Man pleads guilty to protest violence
Watkins will be sentenced at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on 20 September
- Published
A man has pleaded guilty to violent disorder during a protest in Staffordshire last month in the wake of the Southport stabbings.
A wave of anti-immigration protests and riots swept the UK in early August and hundreds of people have since been charged.
James Watkins, 35, of Stoke-on-Trent, appeared before the city's crown court on Wednesday.
He admitted violent disorder, but denied assaulting an emergency worker.
He is due to be sentenced on 20 September, with the charge of assaulting an emergency worker ordered to lie on file.
The unrest last month followed the fatal stabbings of three girls in Southport in July, and was partly fuelled by false rumours online that the suspect was an asylum seeker.
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