'Belfast-Southampton stands with you': Protesters gather outside asylum hotel in English city
Protesters have gathered outside a hotel used to house asylum seekers in Southampton following the Belfast knife attack.
Dozens of demonstrators held Union and St George flags as they gathered outside Highfield House Hotel on Tuesday evening.
Protesters outside the hotel in the city’s Portswood suburb unveiled signs reading “Belfast-Southampton Stands With You”, “Enough Is Enough” and “Illegal Migration Is Destroying Our Civilisation”.
Dozens of police officers lined the pavement and were seen keeping demonstrators from crossing the road.
In a social media post shared by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, organisers of the “flash protest” said it was in response to the “disgusting video we are witnessing”, in what is understood to be a reference to the stabbing in Belfast on Monday.
A man in his 40s was left with serious injuries to his eyes following the attack.
The suspect, a Sudanese national aged in his 30s, who entered the UK across the Irish border having flown from Paris to Dublin, has been charged with attempted murder.
At the protest, banners read “no racism, just patriotism” and “end two-tier policing, end two-tier justice”.
They began chanting “secure our borders, mass deportation”, and “stop the boats, send them home”.
A smaller group of counter-demonstrators holding Stand Up To Racism placards stood along the pavement across the road.
There was disorder in Southampton last week following the murder of Henry Nowak with a protest of around 1,000 people outside central Southampton police station.
Two men who threw a traffic cone and smoke grenade at police during the disorder were jailed on Tuesday.
Anger had erupted after police body-worn video was released showing Mr Nowak being placed in handcuffs moments before he became unconscious and subsequently died.
The 18-year-old student was handcuffed by police officers who ignored his pleas that he had been stabbed as he lay dying after his killer, Vickrum Digwa, claimed to have been the victim of a racist attack.