It’s Time to Mobilise and Not Agonise

A joint statement from Southall Black Sisters and The Monitoring Group on the far-right demonstration in London on Saturday 13 September 2025

17 September 2025

We, Southall Black Sisters and The Monitoring Group, are deeply concerned by last Saturday’s far-right march on Whitehall and the lack of robust police protection for counter-protestors and members of the public. Our own supporters were surrounded by far-right marchers and some suffered racial abuse on route to the counter demonstration. The size of the march was unprecedented and a stark reminder of widespread racist attacks and murders that led to our own formations in the 1970s.

Over the last few months, race incidents have spiralled nationally. The far-right want our communities to feel afraid and isolated. They have been emboldened by global funding and a political establishment that seeks to scapegoat migrants, particularly Muslims. The austerity that has been manufactured by successive governments has plunged vast sections of our society into poverty and has been effectively mobilised against migrants.

We reject and condemn the demonisation of migrants through xenophobic portrayals of ‘boat people’. Moreover, racist assumptions about sexual exploitation and abuse have been allowed to spread and spurred violent mobs to gather outside asylum seeker accommodations.

We condemn the weaponisation of sexual violence to serve any agenda, especially narrow, patriarchal and religious agendas, that erases victim-survivors’ voices. Disturbingly, many of the men protesting and claiming to ‘protect’ women and children against refugees have convictions for domestic and sexual violence themselves.

In the Midlands, a young Asian woman was raped by two white men who said, ‘You don’t belong in this country, get out.’ The police are reported to be treating the rape as a racially aggravated crime. While we welcome a more responsive stance from law enforcement we remain deeply concerned about the justice system’s long-standing failures in addressing sexual and racial violence.

We condemn sexual violence, no matter the race of the perpetrator, because misogyny and sexism are not confined to any one race or community. They are embedded in patriarchal systems of power, deeply intertwined with racism and economic inequality. Sexual violence We condemn sexual violence, no matter the race of the perpetrator, because misogyny and sexism are not confined to any one race or community. They are embedded in patriarchal systems of power, deeply intertwined with racism and economic inequality. Sexual violence must never be reduced to a tool for racism or patriarchal control. To achieve true justice, we must dismantle these intersecting systems of oppression.

We denounce the government’s increasingly draconian immigration measures designed to appease far-right extremists. These measures endanger the very migrant women we support – victim-survivors of domestic abuse, some of whom are forced to endure racist protests outside the temporary accommodations that they may be housed in. We also denounce religious authoritarian groups that claim to speak for us yet reinforce control over women and girls in our communities.

We demand decisive government action to shut down far-right intimidation and foster a bold, anti-racist and anti-sexist vision for our society and pledge support for the twelve demands made by SBS with support from 60+ organisations in the violence against women and girls, anti-racist and migrants’ rights sectors in the wake of last summer’s racist violence. We call upon all civil society members including trade unions, feminists and all anti-racists to build unity and promote an inclusive Britain.

Notes to the editor:

• Southall Black Sisters is a not-for-profit, secular organisation established in 1979 to support Black, minoritised, and migrant women facing domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls. SBS provides holistic frontline services – including advice, advocacy, and counselling – alongside strategic litigation, training, and campaigning to influence law, policy, and public attitudes. SBS is especially recognised for its pioneering work with women who have insecure immigration status and are denied access to safety and justice because of it.

• Since its inception in the late 1970’s, The Monitoring Group has challenged racial injustice through a multi-faceted approach that combines direct support, advocacy, community mobilisation, and movement building. It is acknowledged as an architect of family-led justice campaigns and a driving force for community defence campaigns in the UK.

• Please see the twelve demands made by Southall Black Sisters with support from 60+ organisations to the Prime Minister in the aftermath of the Southport killings and the outbreak of racist violence last year.

Media contact:

Sanskriti Sanghi, Communications, Policy & Strategic Litigation Manager, Southall Black Sisters

Email: Sanskriti@southallblacksisters.co.uk

Tel: 07771 316138

Suresh Grover, National Coordinator & Founder, The Monitoring Group

Email: sgrover@tmg-uk.org

Tel: 07816 301706