For six weeks, an organisation calling itself Peterborough’s Patriots had been staging anti-migrant protests outside the Dragonfly Hotel, used for housing migrants. These protests had triggered counter-demonstrations co-ordinated by Stand Up To Racism.
When Peterborough’s Patriots announced they would demonstrate in the city’s Cathedral Square. Stand Up To Racism responded by calling on its supporters to come together to stop them. One of their organisers, Tom Woodcock, explained:
“People in this hotel are not a threat to women in the area, certainly no more of a threat than the standing population. But stand on a stall in the middle of any town in Britain, and you will quite quickly find a large number of people who are pulled by that argument, who buy into the myth of a two-tier Britain, with white people getting left behind. It’s horrendous, and it’s racist, but we have to do a patient argument about that.”
Angela was on her way to the counter-demonstration on 25 October and told East Anglia Bylines:
“I hope it’s peaceful with not very many of the right-wing protesters there. I hope they’re deflated by seeing lots of Stand Up To Racism people coming week after week to support the asylum seekers. And I hope that people in Peterborough look on us and see that there’s a lot of support for asylum seekers.”
Speakers in the city centre
The two groups faced each other across the paving slabs west of St John’s church in Peterborough. A spotter counted about 15 protesters; the counter-demonstrators numbered about 100. A van played ‘Rule Britannia’, but not loudly enough to cover the people who spoke for the counter protesters.
These speakers included Paddy Barrowman from the Light Project – a charity with a broad aim of making Peterborough a better place for everyone in the city – as well as council leader Shabina Qayyum and Tom Woodcock. Several of them mentioned the arson attack, earlier in the month, on a mosque in Peacehaven, and a less serious incident in Peterborough itself the day before the demo.
After three quarters of an hour, about 50 counter-protesters walked to the hotel, where someone had prepared hearts and welcome messages to write in different languages. There was only one person protesting most of the time with his two flags.
Craftspeople in the counter-demonstration had brought love hearts and bracelets. They fixed some of these to the hotel railings, and offered them free to others in the group.
Words from participants
East Anglia Bylines spoke to some of the participants, and their words give a flavour of the day:
“I have been horrified by the actions of the far right. I’ve encountered people who espouse those views. Until today, I’ve not really done anything about it. I felt I should put my words into actions. I want to show support for refugees, to show that they are welcome and to show that they shouldn’t be intimidated by the far right in this country. The numbers in the square here today show that there are a lot of people out there who don’t espouse those views. When you read the mainstream media, you can think that that’s the majority view. And I wanted to counter that.” Nicola
“Seeing the asylum seekers every week, you get to recognise them and they come and smile, and that’s what keeps me coming back. You can tell that smiling at them is making a difference. I used to work in a primary school, and we had children from several places like Afghanistan. They’d had to flee. I’ve never met such beautiful, kind, lovely, lovely children. They would tell me their stories of coming here as if it was almost like a bit of an adventure. ‘We got on this and then we had to run, we had to hide at my uncle’s.’ But all the way through at the back of that, you could see the horror that they had to face, and it’s just not right. No human should have to suffer that. And children – it’s not of their doing.” Sharon
Some of the megaphone bearers had a slogan, “Throw the Nazis in the sea.” But not everyone felt that this was a credible counter to hate and division.
“We really need to talk to people, and we need to listen to why asylum seekers come over here and why they’ve risked their lives. And we also need to talk to people who have issues with the fact. They’re worried. They hear stories on the news and then they’re worried about their children. We need to put a different point of view.” Elisabeth
It’s the old paradox of tolerance, and it doesn’t get any easier. Elisabeth talked at some length with one of the protesters, and the exchange appears to have been useful.
Would it have been the same if the Peterborough’s Patriots group had outnumbered their opponents? Reports from standoffs in other towns and cities suggest not.
NOTE. Peterborough’s Patriots, the organisation behind the anti-migrant protests, is unconnected with the sports clubs, in various decades and on both sides of the Atlantic, that have gone by the name of Peterborough Patriots. Author, Aidan Baker was among the counter-demonstrators on 25 October.
