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Nearly 2,000 people from around Britain took to the street on Saturday in Newcastle in northern England to demonstrate against the killing of a serving soldier in London on Wednesday.
The participants were carrying placards and chanting slogans: "extremists off our streets" and "support our troops," while walking along the streets in the city center under heavy police presence.
Paul James, a military veteran from Teesside, northeast England, told Xinhua he thinks the British government "should step up efforts in monitoring radicals and extremists in the country, and should be able to act before incidents like woolwich attack happen."
Alan Spence, one of the organizer of the protest, said: "We've got a lot of people who wouldn't have attended but who have attended today due to the horrific death and murder of Lee Rigby, the soldier who was beheaded. I think the show of support and the show from the locals is absolutely fantastic, brilliant. It's beyond all expectations of what we had today."
The protest, organized by English Defense League (EDL), took place without major incident, police said.
"There were a number of arrests over the course of the day, mainly to do with alcohol or to prevent public order offences, however the vast majority of those taking part were well behaved," Newcastle Chief Superintendent Gary Calvert said.
"Most of the arrests took place before the protests started and were part of a proactive strategy by police to avoid disorder and to minimize disruption," Calvert said, adding "extra officers will continue to be in the city."
An earlier protest called by the EDL has seen "small incidents of minor disorder" in southeast London after a serving British soldier was killed by two men on Wednesday afternoon.
The 25-year-old soldier was killed by two attackers wielding knives including a meat cleaver near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich in southeast London. The attackers were later shot by the police arriving on the scene and sent to separate hospitals.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said there were strong indications that the attack was a "terrorist incident."
"This was not just an attack on Britain, and on our British way of life. It was also a betrayal of Islam and of the Muslim communities who give so much to our country. There is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act," Cameron said.
There has been a "huge rise in hate incidents reported against Muslims since Wednesday's killing," an inter-faith organization said on Saturday.
"We have received 162 calls since Wednesday, up from a daily average of four to six. Eight mosques have been attacked to date," Faith Matters said in a statement.
"What's really concerning is the spread of these incidents, which are coming in from right across the country. There also seems to be significant online activity, suggesting co-ordination of incidents and attacks against institutions or places where Muslims congregate," it said.
British Islamic communities have expressed condemnation on the Woolwich attack.
"We need to make sure we don't allow extremists to divide the country. We need to remain calm and measured and get the message out there that we will not allow this to divide us. It was an attack on all of us, on our country, all of us," Julie Siddiqi from Islamic Society of Britain said.
However, Britain's Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPACUK) pointed to a connection between the violent attack and Britain's foreign policy.
"What is the government likely to do apart from condemning the violence and denying the link between our own foreign policy and domestic acts of violence by some of Britain's Muslims? Nothing whatsoever," the MPACUK said in a statement in response to the incident.
"Despite the Muslim Public Affairs Committee's efforts, the depressingly predictable and familiar cycle of violence is likely to continue until the government accepts the real link between the two. Only then will any solution be within reach," the MPACUK said.
