![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_imagemaker-54.jpg\")
Stand Up to Racism and UKIP protestors both faced off in the city centre(Image: Lyra Auld)<\/p>\nRight-wing protests kicked off in Sheffield yesterday, prompting counter-protests across the cityStand Up to Racism and UKIP protestors both faced off in the city centre(Image: Lyra Auld)<\/p>\n
Two Protests, two identical chants, and two vastly different messages – yet I only felt pride at one of them.<\/p>\n
Having been privy to London\u2019s Tommy Robinson Rally – a far-right \u2018meet and greet\u2019 – in person earlier in the year, I was expecting to feel the same overwhelming experience when I descended from Blackfriars station: Scared by the crowds of rowdy, drunk men and disgusted at a misplaced sense of patronage.<\/p>\n
Yet, when I arrived at the UKIP\u2019s own attempt to \u2018protect Sheffield from the far-left\u2019 <\/a>I felt all those feelings melt away – after all, it was impossibly hard to feel threatened when the turnout was so small.<\/p>\n There was a song and dance made online about the need to move UKIP\u2019s protest location after South Yorkshire Police <\/a>“capitulated to the far-left”. Yet, the crowds would have stood no chance of filling the initial meeting point at Sheffield Cathedral<\/a>, barely filling the comparatively smaller Tudor Square location.<\/p>\n Despite the size, there was no breaking the waves of racist obscenities being thrown by the crowds, drawing comparisons between ethnic groups and crime which – any critical thinking – would have quashed within a second.<\/p>\n ‘I did feel completely uncomfortable with the overall message’<\/p>\n Overall – despite not feeling threatened – I did feel completely uncomfortable with the overall message. Despite the irony of both groups chanting “Whose streets? Our streets,” I only felt ‘proud to be British’ when I walked across to Sheffield Cathedral.<\/p>\n There, I was met with an immediate warm energy. The crowds were organised and did not feel anywhere near as volatile. Everyone was polite, ensuring to shield each other from hecklers – something which UKIP protesters were not being subject to by the members from ‘Stand Up To Racism’ (SUTR).<\/p>\n At one point, a local coffee shop even provided free teas to the attendees as a mark of support, while others distributed flyers on how to properly comply with police action.<\/p>\n The only time I felt it get at all “rowdy” was when, briefly, both groups caught sight of each other, while the UKIP protesters were crossing the bridge, near Pollen Market.<\/p>\n Each group was giving as good as each other could get – but at no point in all the jeering, did the SUTR feel disorganised.<\/p>\n ‘Enough to show where the solidarities of Sheffield people stand’<\/p>\n Political beliefs aside, the sheer volume of support for SUTR over UKIP was enough to show where the solidarities of Sheffield people stand. The complete difference in size not only felt like a massive loss for UKIP supporters, but was quite frankly embarrassing as a spectator and bystander.<\/p>\n Suffice to say, I believe only one of these demonstrations could have really been worthy of the term ‘protest’.<\/p>\n![\"UKIP](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_cb698c7e-5852-4cc8-81d3-3b86eadbfb8a.jpg\")
UKIP demonstrators in Sheffield city centre(Image: Lyra Auld)<\/p>\n![\"Stand](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_fcce158d-320c-4e6d-8aa1-40bcb781c22e.jpg\")
Stand Up to Racism protestors chant at UKIP protestors in Sheffield(Image: Lyra Auld)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_IMG_3665.jpg\")
Stand Up To Racism protestors were being handed free beverages (Image: Lyra Auld )<\/p>\n