Demo plan for Wigan town centre opposing anti-immigration rally
Political tensions are ramping up after left-wing activists announced that they are to stage a demonstration in opposition to an anti-Government and anti-immigration rally in Wigan town centre this weekend.
As Wigan Today revealed last week, a protest is being organised by residents who say they are “nothing to do with the far-right” and are ordinary people who just want their voices heard over concerns about how much is being spent accommodating immigrants while British-born residents face hardships and allowance cuts.
They said that they have been working closely with police and Wigan Council to ensure that the event – scheduled for 1.30pm on Saturday, September 27 in Market Place outside the Moon Under Water – passes off peacefully and say that anyone turning up wearing masks or balaclavas, or who is the worse for drink or drugs, will be escorted away by stewards.
However, Stand Up to Racism (SUTR) has now announced plans to stage a protest against the rally – an hour earlier – claiming that it has been “called by racists and fascists.”
They are intending to congregate outside Greggs.
A Wigan SUTR statement read: “Last weekend we witnessed the biggest far right demonstration in British history.
"The enemy is at the gates and has given local racists the confidence to bring their hate into our community. SUTR in Wigan calls on all anti-racists to join the counter protest on September 27.
"The organisers of the protest repeat the racist myths about refugees and Muslims.
"Refugees are not unvetted criminals: they are ordinary people fleeing war, torture, starvation and terror. They deserve our safety and support, not our hostility.
"Refugees are not living in luxury; they are forced to live in overcrowded and unsafe accommodation.
"They are banned from working and must survive on as little as £8.86 a week. They are not all single men. Home office statistics show that 42 per cent of asylum claims in 2024 were from women and children.
"Recent far right protests claim that they are protecting women and girls from refugees and Pakistani grooming gangs.
"They are lying. The truth is that most sexual abuse takes place in the family not by strangers.
"The Casey report using statistics from the Complex Child Abuse Data Base in June 2025 showed that most sexual abuse is committed by white men, and the Home Office reported in 2020 that ‘group-based child exploitation offenders are commonly white.’
“The Police statistics show that two in five of the rioters arrested on the attack on Southport Mosque in 2024 had a history of domestic abuse.
"The far right and their followers are not serious about protecting women and girls. Their aim is to promote racism, islamophobia, and hate.
"We can turn back the racist tide by coming onto the streets and showing that ordinary working class people will not tolerate it.
"While we are blaming refugees, the real culprits who have caused the economic mess we are in in the first place are literally laughing all the way to the bank.”
A statement from the organisers of the anti-Government rally read: “It's nothing to do with The Far Right; it's just normal Wigan folk, mums, dads and families who are fed up with the state of Britain today and feel betrayed by the political system.”