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Tommy Robinson supports and anti-fascist protesters clashed as both groups held protest marches .

Members of Leeds Stand Up To Racism were leading about 100 people on a march down Boar Lane in Leeds city centre when they passed a group of Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) supporters inside The Griffin pub and police were forced to intervene.

A short time earlier the two groups had been exchanging chants from opposite sides of Park Row as Robinson supporters held a rally in nearby City Square to protest Yaxley-Lennon's imprisonment for contempt of court.

The group then marched through the city, along Boar Lane, Vicar Lane and the Headrow, before arriving back in City Square to hear speeches from members of their group.

After that, they dispersed and the counter protest by Leeds Stand Up to Racism, which had remained in City Square, also became a march.

But they only got a few hundred metres along the same route before the clash outside The Griffin pub flared up.

Police had to separate furious people on both sides and extra officers rushed in to prevent their colleagues being overwhelmed.

Two police horses and around a dozen officers barricaded the Robinson supporters inside The Griffin while the Stand Up To Racism march was moved on by police.

The march continued on its route through Leeds City Centre, accompanied by an enlarged police presence.

Why Tommy Robinson supporters marched in Leeds

Supporters Yaxley-Lennon have campaigned in the city on a number of occasions over the past couple of years.

The first major demonstration happened shortly after Mr Yaxley-Lennon was first jailed in May 2018 after being found in contempt of court over a video he broadcast on social media which featured defendants in a criminal trial.

His supporters were back just two months later , when they were confronted by anti-fascists.

Yaxley-Lennon served two months in jail before being freed after the original finding of contempt was overturned by the Court of Appeal in August 2018.

But the case was then referred back to the Attorney General, who announced in March that it was in the public interest to bring fresh proceedings against him.

A hearing at the Old Bailey in July found Yaxley-Lennon in contempt of court and he was sentenced to nine months imprisonment .

Delivering the sentence, Dame Victoria Sharp said: ”We are in no doubt a custodial threshold is passed in this case. Nothing less than a custodial penalty would reflect the gravity of the conduct.”

Dame Sharp told Robinson that the time he previously spent behind bars for the contempt will be taken into account, reducing his sentence to 19 weeks - of which he will serve half before being released.

Today's protest was advertised as a campaign against Yaxley-Lennon's imprisonment.