Socialist bookshop welcomes ‘uplifting’ response after attack by far right

Crowds gather at Bookmarks in London’s Bloomsbury to hear writers and poets, including former children’s laureate Michael Rosen

A week after far-right protesters stormed Britain’s largest socialist bookshop and destroyed books and magazines, crowds gathered on Saturday outside its doors in a show of solidarity.

A series of leftwing writers and poets addressed the audience, many saying that the attack on Bookmarks in London’s Bloomsbury by 12 people, including Ukip supporters, demonstrated how invigorated elements of the far right had become.