More than 500 people attended the "solidarity event" held on Saturday in support of London's Bookmarks Bookshop, a socialist bookshop, which had been attacked by a far-right group on August 4, the Bookseller reported.
The event took place in the store and a nearby church and included readings and speeches, "accompanied by the presence of trade unionists who brought banners, while a musician played the fiddle during breaks." Many authors, political leaders and others read or sent messages of support.
Bookmarks manager Dave Gilchrist said: "The response has been phenomenal. We've had online orders from Honolulu to Helsinki, and today's event surpassed all expectations. The real message of today was the need for unity to drive back the far right. Many speakers emphasised that it was a short step from attacking books to attacking people."
He added: "I think putting on the event has shown we're not isolated. But, more widely than that, it was not simply an attack on our shop but on ideas generally and reading, as well as on the labour and trade union movement which we as a socialist bookshop serve. We feel it has alerted people to the dangers of what's happening around Trump's ideas becoming more prevalent, Steven Bannon coming over and talking to Boris Johnson and then we get the burqa thing, the shift to the right in that respect. We can say we can respond to all that--people are willing to push back."