LONDON — The British capital was tense on Wednesday as police moved into several immigrant-populated neighbourhoods amid fears of a possible outbreak of right-wing unrest that has erupted elsewhere in Britain in recent days.

But the few anti-immigration protesters police encountered in neighbourhoods such as Finchley and Harrow were far outnumbered by hundreds of counter-protesters carrying signs reading “Refugees Welcome” and “Racists Out, Refugees In”.

And in the east London borough of Walthamstow, an even larger gathering of over 5,000 far-right activists gathered, chanting “Love not hate” while hundreds of police stood guard.

More than 1,000 officers were deployed across the city on Wednesday, said Andy Valentine, deputy chief of police of London’s Metropolitan Police Service.

Most of the protests and counter-demonstrators passed without major incidents, Valentine said.

“I want to thank our communities for coming together across the capital and showing community spirit this evening,” he said.

In Croydon, police encountered “anti-social” behaviour by a small group that had nothing to do with the protests. The group wanted to “cause trouble”, Valentine said.

In total, 10 people were arrested in Croydon, a town in south London, including one person accused of assaulting an emergency worker and four people accused of violent disorder, police said. Four people were also arrested in Waltham Forest, including two suspected of weapons offences involving a knife and a golf club, while another person was arrested in Hounslow and charged with possession of a weapon, police said.

Large and peaceful protests in support of the refugees also took place in the cities of Birmingham, Sheffield, Southampton, Liverpool, Newcastle and Bristol on Wednesday.

“I’m here to stand up for human rights,” said 25-year-old plumber Jones Percival in Finchley. “I don’t believe in fascism. People of all races and faiths are welcome.”

As Percival spoke, like-minded protesters began chanting: “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here!”

One of the anti-immigration protesters in Finchley was carrying a flag bearing the St George’s Cross, the English national flag regularly flown by far-right groups. The police quickly confiscated it.

Another anti-immigration protester, who identified himself as Paul, was 55 years old and from north London, said: “I think this country is at boiling point” and accused the French of failing to stop asylum seekers from reaching British shores.

“I don’t care what colour your skin is, but this country has become a soft target,” he said. “We pay the French to stop the migrants, but they turn a blind eye to the asylum seekers coming to this country. We have to stop them. We voted for Brexit to stop that and it hasn’t happened.”

Last week, violence broke out across the country after three young girls were killed in a knife attack during a Taylor Swift dance class in Southport, northwest England.

Fuelled by false rumours that the suspect was a Muslim asylum seeker, right-wing mobs attacked hotels housing asylum seekers, as well as mosques and libraries, leading to hundreds of arrests.

The suspect in the fatal knife attack, Axel Rudakubana, 17, was born in the Welsh capital Cardiff and lived for years in a village near Southport, police said.

After the fatal knife attacks, King Charles and Queen Camilla said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked” and asked to be kept daily informed about the development of the situation.

Earlier on Wednesday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan confirmed that authorities were aware that certain locations in the British capital could be the target of attacks and had therefore issued a precautionary warning.

“To anyone thinking of spreading hatred and fear in our city: if you break the law, action will be taken against you,” he said in a statement posted online. “Acts of violence and disorder on the streets of London will not be tolerated.”

As owners of dozens of north London shops boarded up their windows and shuttered their doors, Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley told reporters that thousands of police officers were deployed to protect potential targets, such as immigration law specialists.

“We will protect these people,” Rowley said. “Regardless of your political views, intimidating any area of ​​legal activity is completely unacceptable and we will not allow the immigration and asylum system to be intimidated.”

Some north Londoners said they felt caught between competing political currents.

“My problem here is that two things have been abused,” said a 44-year-old resident who gave his name as Isaac and described himself as a “proud” British Jew. “The far right have abused the deaths of these poor little girls.”

But some of the people who advocate for migrants are also anti-Semites who equate Zionism with racism, Isaac said.

“In the advertising for this event, they said they wanted to get rid of Nazis, fascists and Zionists,” he said. “That scares me a little bit.”

Police actions in London were similar to security measures taken in other parts of the UK over the weekend.

Thousands of police, many in riot gear, were sent into the streets to prevent protesters from participating. More jail cells were made available in case they were needed. And police upgraded their surveillance and facial recognition technology to identify suspects.

Meanwhile, London courts have adjusted their opening hours to ensure judges are available if the system is inundated with newly arrested suspects.

In Merseyside, near Southport, three men were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of taking part in what police described as a violent disturbance. Several hundred other people were arrested.

According to police, many of the online actions were organized by shady right-wing extremist groups that are gaining support online with slogans such as “Save our children” and “Stop the boats.” These refer to small vessels, often rubber dinghies, that take asylum seekers from France across the English Channel.

Tommy Robinson, founder of the far-right English Defence League, was one of the first to call for nationwide protests, urging his 800,000 followers to “take to the streets”. He recently fled the UK, where he was facing contempt of court proceedings.

Other online personalities, such as internet influencer Andrew Tate, who is currently preparing for his sex trafficking trial in Romania, falsely claimed in a video on X that the knife attacker who killed the little girls was an “illegal immigrant.”

Tech billionaire and X owner Elon Musk added fuel to the fire by claiming Britain was on the brink of “civil war” after more than a week of far-right unrest.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office immediately rejected Musk’s comments, saying in a statement that such comments were “unwarranted.”

The unrest has become one of the first major challenges for Starmer, whose centre-left Labour party took power in a landslide victory last month, ousting the Conservative Party after 14 years.

Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, the UK is facing a cost of living crisis and its public health system is struggling to meet demand. And despite being the world’s sixth-largest economy, it has the highest child poverty rate among the richest countries, according to UNICEF.

Although the Labour Party was successful in the general election, this success was at least partly due to a surge in votes by the far right, which split the right-wing electorate and caused many Conservative MPs to lose their seats in Parliament.