Sheffield protests: If the far-right did show up in Sheffield yesterday, they didn't stand up to be counted

At the City Hall, it was uncertain who was on the steps to Take Back Our Country and Bring Back Common Sense, and who was just having their lunch break.

I also believe a not-insignificant number of anti-immigration protesters arrived at Barker’s Pool on time to join in, but saw the ratio of their tribe to counter-protesters, police and media, and chose to either mill around away from the steps so they weren’t counted among them, or just kept walking in frustration.

That left maybe seven hardcore anti-immigrationists on the steps. At one point, one of them pretended to aim a rifle and imitate a ‘pop, pop’ at the crowd. They had no chants, signs or messages of their own, and their main act of defiance was laughing nastily at the 150 or so counter-protestors because they thought their chants, their messages, were repetitive, boring and woke, or something.

Other than that, around 10 to 15 others stood or sat on the steps, as organised as spilt Rice Crispies, and it was entirely unclear if they were on anyone’s side at all. A few of them wore balaclavas and enjoyed filming over coppers’ shoulders if one of their number was pulled aside and searched, which seemed to be a clue.

Indeed, The Battle of Barker’s Pool - instigated by stray, unaccredited posts online claiming ‘Enough Is Enough, It’s Time To Take Back Our Country’ - was thankfully uneventful and didn’t warrant the anxiety suffered by ordinary people leading up to it, nor the businesses who closed for the day and feared for their shop windows.

Instead, the Confederacy of 15 Or So ‘Send Them Back’ Sentimentalists were jeered off by the Coalition of 150 Uni Students Who Skipped Class That Day & staff whose businesses closed because of the protests in the first place. Also in attendance were over 100 police who were probably dying from heat in their riot gear, and 30 members of the media who couldn’t believe they had to fill out risk assessment forms for this.

The hero of the day goes to the lady who fearlessly stood on the steps behind the protesters holding a ‘Nans Against Nazis’ sign. Eventually she drew some ire and got into a shouting match before the cops asked her to join the counter-protesters, to much applause.

I’m irritated by how much of my mental real estate was spent in the hours leading up to yesterday’s events afraid of imminent UK-wide riots, of possible bricks getting chucked at me while covering it for the paper, or the possibility that This Is Just The Start of a dark day in Sheffield’s history.

The best rumour, in retrospect, was that the publicly planned events were just a distraction to gather police in one location while the true protests break out elsewhere. We really must stop giving this crowd credit for being cunningly organised - all they have to offer is kneejerk reactions, the prospect of in-person violence, and the tricks they use to convince others to hurt people instead.

I was rather worried they would make a bigger show of it at Wilkinson Street, when they had a chance to get off work and have a drink, but they were a no-show there too, and the crowd of counter-protesters grew to 500.

Anyway, the event in Barker’s Pool was a bit of a flop for the ‘take back our country’ crowd, so they lied about it.

Clips are circulating online claiming to show large crowds of immigrants in hoods running through Barker’s Pool or down London Road yesterday. But there weren’t. I was stood in Barker’s Pool around the time of day the clip would have to have been supposedly filmed and widely shared, and let me tell you, there was no one there. The hard-right’s enemies weren’t in Barker’s Pool last night, and frankly neither were the hard-right themselves, despite organising to do so.

Meanwhile, South Yorkshire Police were prompted to put out a statement: “We are aware of old video content recirculating on social media which is claiming to be from today. Please be mindful of rumours and false information on social media and ensure you are utilising trusted sources for information.”

A tenet of hard-right sentiment is that, secretly, the majority of people secretly agree with their world view, and one day all their enemies will flee in terror from their united righteous fury.

Well, supposedly dozens of protests were planned yesterday for the majority of people to make their views known, and at every single one up-and-down the country, the anti-immigration crowd were embarrassingly outnumbered a hundred-to-one by counter-protesters telling them these are our streets.

When they do get enough people together, the far-right’s best move is to smash windows and attempt to burn down a hotel full of people they’ve never met. But when invited to get offline, to stand and be counted for their views using words, they get embarrassed when they see how many people disagree with them. Stick together, and don’t let them get a foothold again.