Anti-racism protesters turned out in their thousands in towns and cities across the U.K. to counter far-right demonstrations that failed to materialize on Wednesday evening, offering some relief to a nation that’s been reeling from the worst outbreak of rioting in more than a decade.

Police had 6,000 specialist officers ready to guard areas around immigration-related facilities, after online agitators posted messages urging supporters to converge on them. The unrest was initially triggered last week by the fatal stabbings of three young girls and false rumors that the attacker was Muslim asylum-seeker, before morphing into anti-immigration and racist disorder.