Hundreds of people have gathered at an anti-racism rally in Liverpool which was organised in response to violent scenes outside a migrant hotel last week.
Large crowds attended the “refugees welcome” protest outside St George’s Hall in the city centre from noon on Saturday.
Jeremy Corbyn MP addressed crowds alongside trade unionists and activists from Stand Up to Racism, charity Care4Calais and Polish Migrants Organise for Change.
The protest was organised after a police van was vandalised and fireworks were thrown during a demonstration outside the Suites Hotel in the Knowsley area of the city on February 10.
A small group of around 10 anti-migrant demonstrators reportedly gathered outside Lime Street station and are understood to have had heated verbal exchanges with anti-racism demonstrations, with police separating both groups.
Photographs taken by the PA news agency show arrests being made, but Merseyside Police said it was not aware of any and would not go into further detail.
Videos on social media showed crowds chanting “say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here”.
Demonstrators waved socialist and trade union flags, including that of the RMT trade union.
One speaker said Liverpool has been “bringing in people from around the world for as long as we’ve been a city and we cannot forget our roots”, while another said the city’s accent is a result of migration.
Foreign-born Liverpool residents also spoke of how they feel at home in the city.
After the horrific events in Knowsley, thousands of anti-racist campaigners have mobilised in Liverpool to stand up for refugees.
We will not let the far-right divide us.
We are a mass movement, united in our belief in a more compassionate, caring and peaceful world. pic.twitter.com/nEqHEdWPAb
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) February 18, 2023
Following the rally, Mr Corbyn tweeted: “After the horrific events in Knowsley, thousands of anti-racist campaigners have mobilised in Liverpool to stand up for refugees.
“We will not let the far-right divide us.
“We are a mass movement, united in our belief in a more compassionate, caring and peaceful world.
Campaign group Hope Not Hate said on Twitter that a demonstration under the banner of “This Is Our City” was due to take place in Liverpool on Saturday.
It said the demonstration has been promoted “through football hooligan networks.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article