Concerns have been raised for the safety of lawyers and solicitors’ firms after a list of 'targets' was shared online after the weekend’s disturbances.
Bolton saw heated scenes around Victoria Square and Bradshawgate on Sunday afternoon after a face-off between far-right demonstrators and counter protesters.
Now one of the town’s solicitor’s firms has been shared on a list of practices across the country that anti-immigration activists are apparently planning to target later in the week.
Bolton South and Walkden MP Yasmin Qureshi said: “Firstly, the rule of law is fundamental to any society and especially in a democracy.
“People who qualify as barristers or solicitors are part of the fabric of our society precisely because of the rule of law.”
She added: “We also have a very special principal that everyone is innocent until proven guilty so to witness this demonisation of lawyers by certain people and certain sections of the right wing media is very concerning.”
The message, believed to have been widely shared on chat groups, lists the addresses of immigration law specialists across the country and advises people to “mask up.”
Coming after the disturbances of the last few days, this has provoked widespread condemnation.
Ms Qureshi said: “Asylum seekers are human beings and the UK has signed international treaties so a solicitor defending them is just someone doing their job
“I know this from having been a barrister myself that people working on asylum cases can also work on criminal cases, conveyancing and all kinds of things.
“But even if a lawyer is only working on asylum cases that is no excuse for any kind of violence against them and I find it very ironic that the very people threatening this are quite like to be needing lawyers themselves soon!”
Elsewhere across the country, the Islamophobia monitoring group Tell Mama says it has alerted the police and counter-terrorism agencies to “far-right threats.”
Law Society of England and Wales president Nick Emmerson said that the list was shared giving “targets for further protest and violence this week.”
He said he had written to the Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Home Secretary asking that “threats against the legal profession are treated with the utmost seriousness.”
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Mr Emmerson said: “It is paramount that justice is done for all those who have been involved in, or are victims of, the riots.”
The Public and Commercial Services union called for the protection of their members working in visa and immigration offices.
General secretary Fran Heathcote and national president Martin Cavanagh said: “Visa and immigration offices are now the target of fascist thugs, threatening our members’ safety and that of the community where the offices are located.
“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen.
“We are calling on employers, management and government ministers to act urgently to protect their staff, the communities they serve and the individuals who rely on their services.”
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