Southampton Stand Up to Racism have announced that they will be holding a unity demonstration in Portswood on Friday evening (26/6/26).
The group began holding such demonstrations last summer in response to anti-asylum seeker protests held outside of a Portswood hotel where individuals have been placed by the home office while awaiting the outcome of their asylum claims.
The group behind the anti-asylum seeker protests, Southampton Patriots, have not yet announced a demonstration on their public social media channels, but resumed protests there two weeks ago and it is anticipated that they are likely to be back on Friday.
Southampton Patriots began protesting against asylum-seekers outside the hotel last summer. Attendance numbers began to drop over the following months and eventually the protests were called off earlier this year.
However, they returned with a ‘flash protest’ in the wake of the Southampton riots that followed the verdict in the trial of the murderer of student Henry Nowak and the news of the knife attack on Stephen Ogilvie in Belfast.
Southampton Stand Up To Racism scrambled to gather counter-demonstrators for that demonstration and massed around half the number on their side of the street to anti-asylum protesters.
In contrast, last Wednesday’s demonstration saw an increase in counter-demonstrators with around 60 gathered, and a decrease in anti-asylum seekers protests, with up to 40 protesting.
Southampton Stand Up To Racism always counter-protests the demonstrations, recently responding with silent protest.
In a social media post, they said: “Please join us in unity to make it clear that Southampton is a welcoming city.”
They will be gathering outside of Waitrose in Portswood at 5.45pm ahead of marching to the hotel in Highfield Lane.
The event follows Saturday’s Southampton/UKIP vigil and march, which saw around 100 protesters march through the city from Portswood to Southampton Central Police Station, whilst around 170 counter demonstrators from Southampton Stand Up To Racism and other community groups held a static rally in Portswood.
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