It’s chaotic at times this afternoon around Liverpool’s waterfront, with the police struggling to keep control.
At lunchtime a few hundred anti-fascist demonstrators gathered across from Liverpool’s Lime Street station at lunchtime, calling for unity and tolerance. They’ve chanted “refugees are welcome here” and “Nazi scum, off our streets”.
They marched down to the Pier Head to confront around 1,000 anti-immigrant protestors. Police in riot gear with dogs have struggled to keep the two sides apart.
I’ve seen smoke canisters, bottles and paint tins thrown by people on the side chanting anti-immigrant slogans, some of them masked.
There have been a couple of arrests here and more police officers have arrived in vans to try to maintain order. A police plane is circling overhead.
Shoppers and visitors to Liverpool’s iconic waterfront are surprised to see the crowds. Many are wondering what any of this has to do with the awful events in Southport on Monday.
A sea of police officers outside the art gallery are working as a barrier to keep apart two very separate sets of protestors. So far, they are doing that very successfully.
At the town hall, there’s a demonstration organised by far-right groups billed as “against terrorism”. Some people are carrying St George’s flags.
A counter-protest by Stand Up to Racism is convening close by for a march around the city centre, asking its supporters to “stop the far-right in Leeds”. They are waving banners proclaiming: “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here.”
About 20 police officers are keeping the two groups about 20 metres apart.
Yesterday evening, the city centre was full of people enjoying the warm evening – today it’s a very different atmosphere.