Around 100 people gathered in the centre of Tenby this morning for Pembrokeshire’s first anti-racism protest since last weekend’s shocking riots in UK towns and cities.
The Tenby Day of Unity, Saturday August 10, was organised by Stand Up to Racism West Wales and was one of scores of similar peaceful protests around the country as part of the organisation’s National Day of Protest.
Although the possibility of a far-right gathering on the town’s Esplanade was being flagged up on social media for noon, no group was seen in the area at that particular time.
Stand Up to Racism’s Patrick Connellan had previously expressed a wish that the Tenby protest would be ‘positive and peaceful’ and that the far-right would stay away following the tide-turning incidents against the faction earlier in the week,
Four police officers maintained a low key presence in Tudor Square as the protestors gathered with their banners.
Their occasional chanting, including the message ‘Stand up, fight back’ was interspersed with some impassioned speeches drawing applause from both protestors and onlookers.
And there was a huge cheer when Aisha Hassain from Milford Haven proclaimed: “You will not get your country back one sausage roll at a time” – a reference to the actions of brazen rioter earlier in the week who looted a Greggs shop in Hull.
Aisha, a former patient advocate in the NHS, warned: “Muslims are not going anywhere, we are the very fabric of British society.”
Another protestor and NHS worker, Hannah, told the Western Telegraph: “Today is about unity and community. We are one human race, and that is why we are standing here today.
"We must hold out and condemn not just the far-right but also those politicians who have encouraged them and made their actions possible and are now saying they did not mean it.
“It’s really important that we all stand together in Pembrokeshire to value its diversity and make it a welcoming county and not to be divided by the politics of the far-right.”
Hannah, who is an NHS occupational therapist, added: “Without all the hard-working staff from overseas, our NHS would grind to a halt.”
Local people amongst the spectators in Tudor Square praised the orderly protestors and one woman said: “I wish I was brave as they are so I could join them.
“We’ve come today because although we don’t want to be actively involved, we want to offer our silent support. We don’t want the far-right to think we are in support of them.”
Stand Up to Racism’s Patrick Connellan said he was “heartened” at the reaction of onlookers as well as the turn-out of supporters for the cause – a number of whom were unfamiliar faces.
A wary eye had been kept out for any members of the far-right faction and Mr Connellan said: “We aren’t counting our chickens, but hopefully the tide has turned.”
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