Far-right rallies abandoned amid warnings of 10-year sentences

Planned far-right rallies did not materialise over the weekend, amid a large turnout of anti-racist protesters and comments from the director of public prosecutions that rioters could end up with 10-year prison sentences.

Planned far-right action in towns and cities such as Newcastle, Liverpool, Basildon, Wakefield and Shrewsbury did not happen, while a handful of small rallies resulted in swift arrests.

In Yeovil, a small anti-immigration gathering was dispersed by police, with four arrests for offences including racially aggravated public disorderly behaviour and possession of a knife.

Reform UK party’s central London offices were targeted by anti-racism protesters in a peaceful march involving 5,000 people and in Belfast 15,000 people turned up to one of the city’s biggest ever anti-racism gatherings.

Elsewhere in Northern Ireland, 10 police officers were injured in clashes with nationalists in Derry, in separate riots that followed the annual Apprentice Boys loyalist parade. Petrol bombs, fireworks and stones were thrown at police in unrest involving as many as 50 people.

Meanwhile, Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, said hundreds more people accused of rioting would be brought before the courts in the coming days, particularly those with “more serious charges”.

Lengthy sentences of up to 10 years would be handed out for those directly involved in the rioting, Parkinson said. “We warned of the consequences and will deliver those consequences,” he said. “It’s not about exacting revenge, it’s about delivering justice.”

Dozens more rioters appeared in court across the UK on Saturday, including a 16-year-old boy who admitted stealing £15,000 of vapes during disorder in Liverpool. He also pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker and causing criminal damage to a police car.

Teenagers accounted for a large proportion of those who were arrested and appeared in court over the weekend, with three 13-year-old boys and a 17-year-old girl being part of a further series of arrests in Hull.

A 55-year-old woman who was arrested for stirring up racial hatred in inaccurate social media posts about the identity of the Southport attacker was released on police bail.

As of Saturday, 779 people had been arrested in connection with the riots, with 349 of those charged, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council. Meanwhile, analysis found more than 200 officers had been injured during the riots, including 93 from Merseyside police alone.

David Lammy, the foreign secretary and Labour MP for Tottenham, where riots took place in 2011, said: “The far right … has forgotten about what it means to be English.” Writing in the Sunday Times, he said: “People often ask me, as the black MP for Tottenham, one of the world’s most diverse constituencies, about the question of integration. I believe passionately that people of all backgrounds need to integrate and need to live with their neighbours.

“The far right has shown it has forgotten this need to integrate. It has forgotten about what it means to be English: the north star of our values is tolerance and our beautiful country is held together by a constellation of values it has rejected.

“Respect for your neighbours. Respect for private property. Respect for the police. Those swept up in this disorder need to integrate back into Britishness – and out of this loathsome trending online hate.”

Communities continued to rally round those affected by the riots, including a Middlesbrough carer whose car was destroyed by thugs during a riot in the town a week ago. A fundraiser for Brendan Nwabichie, who was left in tears when he returned from a 12-hour shift to find his car burnt out, has raised more than £65,000.

The organiser of the fundraiser, Clare’s Care Ltd, said Nwabichie would receive £28,000 to cover the cost of his new car and insurance.

Staff at the company who were affected would receive £1,000, local charities would receive £36,000 and the remaining amount would go to other organisations or charities.

The updates about the amounts being spent were given because “unfortunately there has been speculation about the amounts Brendan would be receiving”, the company said on the GoFundMe page and those who had donated could request a refund.