Last week, far-right mobs brought violence to the UK. The disorder was triggered after misinformation spread online in the wake of a knife attack in Southport in which three young girls, all aged under 10, were killed. Many inflammatory posts circulated on X which suggested the perpetrator behind the deadly attack was an ‘illegal’ Muslim migrant, when in reality it was carried out by a 17-year-old born in Cardiff.

Whipped up by the rumours about the attacker’s identity, racist groups set fire to accommodation housing asylum seekers, laid siege to mosques, fought with police, looted shops, and damaged public buildings and private homes alike. Many people from Muslim and British-Asian backgrounds were assaulted, including a man in Hull who was dragged from his car, called racist slurs, and beaten.

It’s a bleak time to be in the UK, but cheeringly, thousands of anti-racism protestors rallied together in towns and cities across the nation on Saturday, with people taking to the streets in cities including Cambridge, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London.

In London, photographer Ivan Ruberto joined the 5,000 people who marched on Whitehall to express their support for refugees and take a stand against Islamophobia, xenophobia, and racism. The march started at the Reform UK headquarters; notably, Reform’s leader Nigel Farage has espoused anti-immigrant rhetoric for years and fuelled false rumours surrounding the identity of the Southport attacker.

21-year-old Carter Tam attended the London protest on Saturday. They explain that recent events have made them feel “scared and terrified” – but they stress that they “believe in the power of showing up.”

27-year-old Jules Lechler-Lombardi also attended the protest to take part in the “anti-fascist” movement. “We need a disbanding of capitalist structures and a whole system overhaul,” they say, expressing their wishes for the future.

Niya Clement, 27, says that he showed up to “make sure UK fascists know they won’t gain traction in London”, adding that the riots have urged him to be more “proactive” in fighting against the far-right – while he also hopes that Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be more outspoken in condemning the right.

See more of Ivan Ruberto’s work on Instagram.