Thousands of counter-protesters have rallied in towns and cities across England after a week of rioting and disorder. Gatherings in locations where anti-immigration protests had been expected - including north London, Bristol and Newcastle - were largely peaceful, as counter-protesters formed the bulk of the crowds. Police had been braced for further violence, with thousands of officers monitoring as many as 100 locations. The demonstrations followed days of riots initially sparked by misinformation online that the suspect in the fatal stabbing of three girls in Southport on 29 July was a Muslim asylum seeker. Mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers have been among places targeted over the last week, with some shops burnt out and looted . On high streets across England, shop owners boarded up windows and closed early on Wednesday in anticipation of further violence. Immigration lawyers had been told by police to work from home after lists of solicitors’ ...
There was a large police presence in some parts of Belfast on Tuesday nightA Belfast estate agent whose premises were rammed by a car has said he is frightened and devastated after his business was targeted.
Police say masked men drove a hijacked car into the building on Tuesday evening.
The business owner told the BBC's Nolan Show he believes he was targeted because of claims that he was renting homes to asylum seekers.
Six people have been arrested after a third night of disorder in Belfast.
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The estate agent told BBC News NI he rents homes to some tenants who have come from overseas to work in Northern Ireland.
He added that some of his tenants have been intimidated out of their homes due to racism.
"There's one tenant who has said he's had enough. He's going back to Africa," he said.
"I know of another family—there was a husband and wife, and I think they had one child—who returned to India.
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"She was a nurse, but her house was targeted, and a sticker was put on the window, which made it very clear that because of where she was born, she wasn't welcome in the area."
The business owner added: "There's a big difference between what we'd been accused of doing, which is housing asylum seekers, and—as I said—we can let houses to people who have a right to live here and work in Northern Ireland.
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"As everybody knows who has visited a hospital or a care home or a nursing home recently, those businesses have been recruiting very heavily outside the UK, and people are travelling to Northern Ireland to work."
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The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said six people were arrested during the disorder on Tuesday.
They added they are treating the incidents on Woodvale Road and Rathlin Street as racially motivated hate crimes.
Police said they received a report that a car had been hijacked by a group of masked men on Fingal Street at about 20:45 BST on Tuesday.
They said the vehicle was then "deliberately driven" at the front of a business on Woodvale Road, before gang left the scene.
Then shortly after 21:25 BST it was reported that masked men were smashing windows in Rathlin Street.
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In a statement, Supt Allister Hagan said he wanted to reassure the community, adding that officers will maintain a visible presence in the area.
He said the incidents are being investigated as racially motivated hate crimes.
The latest violence followed nights of disorder in south Belfast on Saturday and Monday
The officer added that the PSNI has set up a Major Incident Public Portal for people to submit information, images and footage which they have gathered by mobile phone, dash cam or CCTV.
Officers remained on patrol in the area on Tuesday night.
Elsewhere in the city, part of the Newtownards Road was set on fire in east Belfast but police helped to dampen the flames.
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