Some 200 anti-racists came out on Saturday to oppose and outnumber a “Ban the burqa” demonstration of 40 racists from the Frontline Patriots.
It followed a series of mobilisations by the far right in north east England in recent weeks.
Activists are building for a big turnout on the 17 November national demonstration in London.
Activists in the Stand Up To Racism group at Manchester university organised their first action of the new academic year after freshers’ fair last week.
Around a dozen students took part in a protest against the Generation Identity (GI) group, which had put up racist stickers on the campus.
GI is a white supremacist group that looks to Donald Trump and the alt right in the US.
While it is small, GI is trying to get make Muslim students feel intimidated at a number of campuses.
Other student SUTR groups should look out for signs of far right activity at their colleges.
Manchester students also held a Kick Racism Off Campus planning meeting on Monday.
They are organising for an SUTR rally on campus next week, titled of “How can we stop racism and the far right?” .
Speakers include Labour’s shadow immigration minister and local MP Afzal Khan and UCU union vice president Nita Sanghera.
The meeting is part of a national campus tour organised by SUTR and UCU.
Supporters of SUTR groups in Birmingham were part of the protest against the Tory party conference last Saturday.
Chants of, “Tories out—refugees in” rang out from their lively bloc on the 1,200-strong demonstration.
They were joined by members of the SUTR group at Wolverhampton university.
Jeremy Corbyn held large meetings in Halesowen and Redditch, near Birmingham last week.
Supporters of Black Country SUTR leafleted the Halesowen meeting to build support for the national demo.
They received a warm reception. Those leafleting for SUTR included local Labour members and activists.
A student member of SUTR at the Glasgow School of Art got the principal to announce the group’s first organising meeting to the freshers’ welcome assembly.
Activists leafleting the assembly were mobbed afterwards, with students queuing up to take leaflets.
At nearby Glasgow university, students were set to hold a film screening of Calais Children.
The Leeds SUTR group held a stall at the Muslims of Leeds event last Saturday that was organised by Muslim Engagement and Development.
They publicised the SUTR international conference on 20 October and the national demonstration.
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