Far-right protesters clashed with police on Saturday after hundreds of people gathered outside the town hall in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, for a planned protest.
The event was organised to protest over the alleged rape of 12-year-old girl in the town, for which two men, reportedly Afghan asylum seekers, have been charged.
The protest began peacefully but there were tense exchanges with counter-protesters from Stand Up to Racism, who held placards and a banner reading “stop the far right”.
One held a handwritten sign which read: “Why do fascists only care about women when they can use our stories and pain to oppress others?”
On the other side, a red and white sign in the crowd saying “This Is England”, and another reading “UK first”, were held above the growing crowd of protesters.
They accused the anti-racists and the police of “protecting paedophiles”, shouting “shame on you!”.
Nuneaton and Bedworth police said there was one arrest at the protest, a 17-year-old boy for making threats to cause criminal damage.
The counter-protesters were outnumbered about four to one and were led away by police after a couple of hours.
The crowd listened to rambling speeches during which men shouted “enough is enough!” and urged them to support Reform UK. Protesters chanted “send them home” and “we want our country back”.
One man standing on a stage in front of about 400 people said: “England is doomed. You cannot stop it by protesting, the far right must unite.”
He called upon the separate far-right organisations to come together in a group that should include Tommy Robinson, a far-right agitator whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
Robinson is on bail suspected of assaulting a man in St Pancras station.
The protest, Nuneaton says No!, was organised by the extremist nationalist group Homeland party, whose activists unfurled a banner reading “Remigration NOW”, referring to the mass deportation of immigrants and those born in the UK with heritage from overseas.
Many who attended said they were from the area and denied being far right.
Meanwhile, Nazi imagery could be seen on T-shirts worn by a handful of people.
Music blared from a loudspeaker, including Rule, Britannia! with the chorus loudly sung along to. The protest wound down by mid-afternoon as the music was switched off and many protesters, including most of the women, left.
Some remained, drinking cans of beer and working themselves up against the police, whom they accused of covering up crimes by asylum seekers.
When one officer agreed with a protester that the alleged rape of the child was a “horrific crime”, in an attempt to calm some agitated protesters, one shouted: “Horrific crime? Well let us protest then.”
The officer responded: “We are letting you protest.”
By late afternoon, the crowd had entirely dispersed. Later, some protesters could be seen taking turns to sing karaoke on the street outside the Wetherspoon’s pub.
