THOUSANDS of anti-fascists mobilised across the country over the weekend to counter protests targeting hotels housing refugees.

In Liverpool, demonstrators surrounded far-right protesters from either side of the road as they gathered outside the Richmond Apart-Hotel in Hatton Garden on Saturday.

Protesters rallying against refugees were seen waving St George’s flags, and waving sheets of paper saying “Send them back.”

Speaking to the crowd at the counterprotest, Labour MP Kim Johnson said: ”It’s not the Muslims, the migrants and the refugees that cause the problems: it’s the millionaires, the politicians and the corporate organisations that brought this country to its knees.

“ I am ashamed to say as a Labour MP that the leadership of the Labour Party are playing into the hands of the far right. The same rhetoric, the same narrative. Pushing to the right is not gonna get our voters back.”

In Nuneaton, a protest outside the council offices organised on Facebook by the leader of the Homeland neonazi group drew hundreds. It came after Reform council leader George Finch had claimed that Warwickshire Police had held back information about the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl.

They were met by anti-racism protesters chanting “Love not hate” and with placards which said “Stop the far right.”

When counterprotesters left, people carrying flags followed them shouting “Scum,” “Get them out” and “Paedo” before heading into the Ropewalk Shopping Centre.

There were also anti-refugee demonstrations in Bristol, Bournemouth, and Birmingham on Saturday, as well as in Portsmouth, Southampton and Aldershot, Leicester and Altrincham the day before.

At the Bell Hotel in Epping, one man was arrested after an officer was struck by an object while another was arrested on suspicion of breaching court bail conditions.

Two people were arrested during protests outside a hotel in London’s Canary Wharf.

Speaking there, Stand Up to Racism co-convener Sabby Dhalu said: “We’re here to stand up to that because it’s clear that people on the far right want to see a repeat of the violence and the horrific scenes that we saw last year, with racist attacks up and down the country, violent attacks on police, violent attacks on mosques.

“We’ve got to find better solutions as a society to the various problems that the country is facing: the fact that people are getting worse off is not the fault of refugees.”