The same week that riots set fire to Belfast in Northern Ireland, on 13 June 2026, a far-right group attempted to march through Brighton, UK with some claiming their goal was to reach a mosque. In response, around 4,000 residents of Brighton mobilised to impede the march. The counter-protesers blocked every route despite being subjected to force by the large police deployment. The use of force included riot police using pepper spray and riots shields along with inflicting blows upon the counter protesers,. The following images depicts the far-right marchers, the counter demonstrations, and the police response.
The following images show some of the far-right marchers.
The far-right group is called the ‘South East Patriots’, with the march also being organised by UKIP leader Nick Teconi. Teconi is also the leader of Turning Points UK, a sister organisation of the US organisation founded by Charlie Kirk, and has been documented on film performing a Nazi salute in public.
It was reported that approximately 4,000 counter demonstrators responded to the march. It was a broad coalition, including anti-facist, anti-racist, pro-Palestine, and LGBTQ+ groups. The numbers overwhelmingly favoured the counter-protesers who managed to block every route available to the far-right marchers, who only managed to move meters away from the train station.
Below shows some images of the counter demonstrators.
The police presence that was deployed attempted to facilitate the movement of the march multiple times, resulting in the abovementioned blocks.
Officers were eventually deployed with riot gear, shields, and pepper spray which they used on the counter-protesters.
Following this show of force, I observed individual officers talking to protesters, attempting to justify their actions. However this was not received well by the individuals attempting to clear pepper spray from their eyes.
In this pane you can see images of two people who had been subjected to pepper spray.
Below this section you can see additional portraits and photos of officers, along with an instance of an officer adminstering treatment to someone who was subjected to a blow to the head during the reponse.
The march continues a trend in the UK whereby far-right and anti-immigration groups are attempting to visibly spread their presence across the country.
However, these actions are continuing to met with large and organised counter-demonstrations.
On a personal note, as a child of immigration and as someone who lived in Brighton for a while, I was heartened to see that city took these events seriously and turned out in such force. In light of what occurred in Belfast, along with attacks in Scotland, I believe that the response in Brighton is an example to the rest of the country.
