National roundup: 5–13 October 2026
Bristol: anti-fascists outnumber the far right six to one
Friday 9 October — approximately 300–350 counter-protesters against 50 far-right activists.
Around 50 supporters of Bristol Rises gathered on College Green for a rally demanding that anti-fascists be driven from the streets. They faced a substantially larger counter-demonstration, with local reporting from Bristol24/7 putting the anti-fascist turnout at more than 300.
Anti-fascists chanted against racism and fascism, drowning out speeches from the far-right rally.
The far-right demonstration also had consequences for an unrelated community event. Cancer Research UK’s Shine Night Walk, involving around 2,000 registered participants, was postponed after Bristol Rises refused a police request to alter its plans. The charity subsequently rescheduled the walk for 16 October.
Leeds: more than 500 join unity march
Saturday 10 October — over 500 anti-racists; small far-right opposition.
More than 500 people joined the Stand Up To Racism unity demonstration in Leeds despite heavy rain. The march was led by Women Against the Far Right and included trade unionists, Green Party members, Palestine solidarity campaigners and other anti-racists.
Love Music Hate Racism performers helped launch the demonstration before it moved through the city centre. A small far-right group attempted to oppose the march but was heavily outnumbered.
Yeovil: anti-racists confront anti-immigration march
Saturday 10 October — approximately 120 counter-protesters and 60 far right demonstrators.
An anti-immigration demonstration under the banner Yeovil Calling: Stop Immigration & Two-Tier Policing marched through the Somerset town centre.
Anti-racists organised a counter-protest.
Avon and Somerset Police confirmed that two men were arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public-order offences. Brighton: school students challenge Restore Britain activist
Brighton Saturday 10 October — counter-protest in Churchill Square.
School students and other young anti-racists confronted Montgomery Toms, founder of Freedom Watch GB and associated with Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain, after he established one of his travelling political debate stalls in Churchill Square.
Toms uses a gazebo bearing the challenge Prove me wrong to promote arguments against immigration. In Brighton, students surrounded the stall, challenged his arguments and eventually dismantled the gazebo.
Brighton and Hove Stand Up To Racism celebrated the intervention, more than three hours of challenges from young protesters.
Bristol and Cardiff: students confront Freedom Watch GB
Monday 5 October — two university confrontations involving Montgomery Toms.
Toms’s appearances earlier in the week had already encountered organised opposition.
At the University of Bristol, approximately 100 students and anti-racist activists protested against his appearance outside Senate House on Woodland Road. The university newspaper Epigram reported another 250 or more onlookers.
Activists from Stand Up To Racism participated
The demonstration lasted several hours. Protesters surrounded the gazebo, chanted against racism and eventually dismantled it. There was also a physical altercation involving Ben Pinker, associated with Bristol Rises.
At Cardiff University, around 100 students challenged another Freedom Watch GB appearance outside the Students’ Union.
Campaigners from Time To Act and Cardiff Stand Up To Racism participated. The demonstrators surrounded the gazebo and repeatedly chanted in support of refugees. Toms eventually abandoned the event.
These episodes suggest that Freedom Watch GB’s strategy of using universities and public squares for provocative social-media content is increasingly encountering opposition from students themselves, rather than simply from established anti-fascist organisations.
Sheffield: 300 attend emergency SUTR meeting after Patriot Platform mobilisation
Sunday 11–Monday 12 October — far-right mobilisation followed by a large community meeting.
One of the most important developments of the week took place in Darnall, Sheffield, where masked members of Patriot Platform marched through the area and gathered outside a coach depot on Sunday morning.
The group, established by Daniel “Danny Tommo” Thomas, accused the coach operator of transporting asylum seekers and presented its intervention as a warning to other businesses.
The location is significant. Darnall has a substantial Muslim population, and the masked mobilisation was widely condemned as intimidation.
Local political representatives criticised the action.
Within approximately 24 hours, more than 300 people attended an emergency meeting organised by Sheffield Stand Up To Racism on Monday 12 October.
A Sheffield unity march was announced for Saturday 24 October.
East London: Cable Street anniversary organising continues
Tuesday 6 October — packed meeting at Rich Mix.
Stand Up To Racism organised a Cable Street 90: Fighting Fascism Then and Now event at Rich Mix in Bethnal Green.
The discussion followed the ninetieth anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street and considered the relevance of anti-fascist resistance today.
There was a packed meeting involving Michael Rosen, Taj Ali, Mothin Ali and Daniel Kebede, alongside other speakers.
The event connected the historical lessons of the East End’s resistance to Mosley’s Blackshirts with contemporary struggles against racism and the far right.
The large anniversary march itself took place on Sunday 4 October.
Glasgow: masked far-right march through the East End
Wednesday 7 October — dozens involved.
A masked anti-immigration group marched through Shettleston and the Parkhead area of Glasgow, chanting anti-migrant slogans and confronting police.
Police Scotland confirmed that a 32-year-old man was arrested and charged in connection with an alleged assault on an officer.
Local MSPs condemned the demonstration. SNP MSP David Linden described the scenes as deeply unsettling for the community, while Labour MSP Paul Sweeney criticised the intimidation associated with masked far-right groups.
However, activists, families, campaigners, MSPs and allies came together for Reclaim the Night, organised by Sisters Against Cuts, to demand an end to violence against women and girls.
Birmingham
Great turnout in Birmingham. At least 1,000 of us. Well done to the demo organisers and the stewards. Very uplifting day. Lots of Palestine flags. Good to see the movements still together.
Other activity and organising
Patriot Platform targets coach operators
Sunday 11 October. Patriot Platform targeting coach businesses in Sheffield, Essex and Perivale in west London, using accusations about transporting asylum seekers to justify confrontational actions.
Swansea: anti-deportation solidarity event
Monday 12 October. Swansea anti-racist campaigners advertised a screening of Everybody to Kenmure Street, the documentary about the Glasgow community resistance to an immigration enforcement operation in May 2021.
Gosport: organising following anti-migrant protests
Anti-migrant protesters gathered at Haslar Marina during the night of 4–5 October, confronting police while RNLI crews brought 149 people ashore after a Channel rescue.
Police subsequently reported 12 arrests. Reporting placed the anti-migrant crowd as high as approximately 350.
Anti-racists publicised plans for a Gosport Together Unity Rally on 25 October, an important planned response on the south coast.
Stoke
Had the AGM of NorSCARF today in Stoke. Richard Donnelly gave an illuminating and entertaining talk. About 20 people attended both in person and online. Smaller than last year in part due to sheer volume of counter demos we were involved in last year. We refreshed our Steering Group with now has about 15 antiracists on it from a variety of interests, including a young GP committee member which is a first for us. Also building a delegation to the Manchester TA summit next week
Cardiff
Hi everyone, just reporting back from WAFR event in Cardiff yesterday to tackle Islamophobia faced by Muslim women. We collaborated with mend and Muslim association of Britain and got 25 women in the room.
There was a great discussion around the rise of Islamophobia in wales and what we can do to get organised. We had a stall and had 3 sign ups. We promoted the Unity demo with some women taking Unity demo leaflets to put up in their local mosques.
Monitoring Group
The period shows three forms of anti-racist activity.
First, established SUTR mobilisations continue to draw substantial support. Leeds brought more than 500 people onto the streets, with a particularly visible role for Women Against the Far Right, trade unions and Palestine solidarity activists. Bristol demonstrated that a relatively small far-right rally can be confronted by a much larger mobilisation.
Second, opposition is developing beyond the established anti-fascist networks. The student responses in Bristol, Cardiff and Brighton are particularly interesting. They involved young people reacting directly to far-right provocations in their own environments, rather than waiting for an established organisation to initiate a protest.
Third, the far right is experimenting with intimidation away from conventional rallies. Patriot Platform’s interventions at coach depots and its masked march in Darnall suggest an attempt to identify targets associated with asylum accommodation and transport. Sheffield’s emergency meeting demonstrates the potential for a rapid, broad community response.
Unity demonstrations, immediate counter-protests and ongoing local organising reinforce one another. The week’s strongest examples combine numbers on the streets with wider involvement from students, trade unionists and local communities.
What comes next
SUTR’s official events listings show another series of unity demonstrations planned for Saturday 17 October, including Cambridge, Stevenage, Canterbury, Chelmsford, Carmarthen, Northampton and Oxford.
Further demonstrations are advertised for 24 October, including Newcastle, Sheffield, Chesterfield and Swansea. Stand Up To Racism ✊
International
Unfortunately it is a dark day in Germany, where Tobias Rausch has been elected the first fascist prime minister of a Land since 1945. He now rules in Sachsen-Anhalt. Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, his deputy prime minister, has described Islam as a “fungus” – he represents the fascist Der Fluegel faction in the AfD, led by Bjoern Hoecke. Rausch received votes from the deputies of the Buendniss Sahra Wagenknecht, the anti-woke “left” party, which is perhaps best imagined as similar to the Workers Party here. The ballot of deputies was secret, but it is believed that the CSU (the Tories) provided the additional four votes Rausch needed. The constitutional “firewall” against fascism in Germany has been breached. Meanwhile the German establishment is castigating the Left Party as antisemitic after their win in Berlin. Nie wieder ist jetzt!
Further Ideas
Richard Donnelly looks at the obstacles facing the far right and how this is generating a process of competitive radicalisation among Reform and Restore. It also includes an account of the latest Patriot Platform actions on the weekend, arguing that the targeting of coach companies has grown out of an increasingly focus on the infrastructure of asylum provision. Looking also at the advance of the far right in Germany and France.
https://theunrecoveredcountry1.substack.com/p/britains-far-right-under-pressure
💥 Saturday 12 December, London AGM
This year has been full of enormous challenges for SUTR, from mobilising against Reform UK at the ballot box and against the far right on the streets.
Stand Up To Racism’s AGM will be an opportunity to discuss how we can take the movement forward and how we can build SUTR as a mass membership organisation.
We are asking each local Stand Up To Racism group to register 3 in person delegates for the event.
A ‘briefing’ letter will be emailed to your local group.
💥 You can register your delegates here 👉🏿https://actionnetwork.org/ticketed_events/stand-up-to-racism-agm-2026/
New Restore Britain factsheet
https://standuptoracism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/SUTR-A4-2-side-FACTSHEET-Restore-Britain.pdf
