Clashing Belfast protests go off without violence, as anti-racist side vastly outnumbers and drowns out anti-immigration rally

An anti-immigration rally and an anti-racist counter-demonstration both took place at the same time in front of city hall, and in advance fears were raised that the event could end up with a repeat of mob violence seen last August.

With a heavy police presence, those fears weren’t realised – though one man on the anti-immigration side was arrested after attempting to approach and film the members of the counter-protest from its rear.

Although the PSNI shooed the man away while he voiced objections, a couple of minutes later he was being frogmarched away by two policemen, his arms held behind his back as he lashed out against street furniture with his feet.

Despite several hundred people in the area, and some temperatures – and paranoia about the members of the press – running high on both sides, the rallies were peaceful.

The two groups were kept widely separated in front of city hall, four police armoured Land Rovers blocking the path between them.

The anti-racist side comfortably outnumbered the anti-immigration rally, with around three to four times as many people in that group.

They also drowned out the rally with drums and regular chants of ‘refugees are welcome here’ and ‘Who is Belfast? We are Belfast’.

So many turned up to join the anti-racist side that it spilled off the footpath and across the road, with the police eventually deciding to seal Wellington Place off from traffic.

The anti-immigration crowd seemed to have some communication problems; a loudhailer they’d brought didn’t appear to be working, meaning many among the crowd couldn’t hear their own speakers.

Last August’s rally brought the unusual sight of tricolours and Union Flags being flown in unison by the anti-immigration protestors. That happened again today, though Irish flags were far more common than British ones.

One protestor shouted conspiracy theories about Muslims, claiming they were “cutting the heads of gay men off in Limerick [and] cutting the heads off women in Sligo” while accusing the three to four hundred counter-demonstrators of being paedophiles to cheers from the crowd.

A small group of Christians in the anti-immigration section sang parts of hymns; one of them, an older woman, shouted ‘repent, repent’ at the anti-racist group.

The counter-demonstration was organised by a wide variety of local bodies, including trade union Nipsa, Amnesty International, political parties People Before Profit and the Greens, plus several immigrant and anti-racist campaign organisations.

High-ranking members of many of those bodies addressed the protest through a microphone and speaker system, including MLA Gerry Carroll.

Pleased with the turnout, Nipsa general secretary Carmel Gates told the News Letter the union wanted to show support for all workers, and dispel myths that immigration damages jobs and wages.

“The failures of the system are not the fault of refugees, and not the fault of asylum seekers,” she said. “It’s the fault of [policies] that do not provide enough for all ordinary working people.”

Speaking in the aftermath of the protest, a PSNI spokesman said traffic is “moving freely after being disrupted for a short period”, adding: “One man, aged 44, has been arrested on suspicion of disorderly behaviour and criminal damage. He remains in custody at this time.”