Thousands take to the streets to counter threat from far right

Police stage biggest mobilisation across country since 2011 riots

- Emine Sinmaz , Vikram Dodd , Josh Halliday

Thousands of anti-racism protesters gathered across England and formed human shields to protect asylum centres last night after police warned of unrest at more than 100 far right-led rallies.

Holding placards saying "Refugees welcome" and "Reject racism, try therapy", people took to the streets in towns and cities nine days after the country was shaken by repeated riots following the murders of three girls in Merseyside. But there was little sign of the unrest seen over the past week.

Police staged their biggest mobilisation to counter disorder since the 2011 riots and said there was a credible threat that many of the planned gatherings could turn violent.

Lawyers' offices shut down, high street shops were boarded up, GP practices closed early and MPs were told to consider working from home as 41 of the 43 local police force areas in England and Wales braced for potential disorder.

About 6,000 riot-trained officers were drafted in to tackle the expected rallies and an estimated 30 counter-protests after immigration law firms and refugee centres were listed as potential targets in a far-right chat group on the encrypted messaging app Telegram.

But thousands of counter-protesters took to the streets of Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Brighton and London to protect their communities from the rumoured protests that were due to take place.

At 7pm in Liverpool, hundreds of people formed a human shield outside a church that hosts an immigration advice centre, which was mentioned in the Telgram chat, while women held banners saying: "Nans against Nazis." Similar scenes were witnessed in the east London boroughs of Hackney and Walthamstow as thousands of local people and anti-fascist activists came together and held placards saying "We are one human race" and "Unite against hate".