Protests break out at Guildhall Square, Portsmouth: part 2

The News, Portsmouth

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00:00...

00:17Why can I talk louder than you Jesus!

00:21And we do know that many of the protests that have taken place are being based on dishonesty

00:27You're a bloody traitor! You're a bloody rapist and a murderer! You're a whore!

00:42Our group were due to actually have our event at 9.15 and I think we got there about 10.05-10.09

00:52and a group of us went on to the Guildhall steps. There was none of the far-right protesters there at that point.

01:00They started coming later but we didn't have a huge turnout for our side, we only had about 50 people.

01:08At a certain point I got the megaphone out and started talking about, you know, we need to focus on the victims

01:19of these three young girls who were killed and I did a thing about, you know, naming them

01:27and giving respect to the community there that actually behaved with such dignity

01:34and announced that we were going to have a one-minute silence.

01:39People started shouting from the far-right groups at me and I actually three or four times said,

01:47you know, if we can have a one-minute silence, please respect it, blah, blah, blah.

01:51And as soon as the one-minute silence started, a number of them started saying things like

01:57we forced them into silence or something, they claimed it was a victory.

02:01And then it was just a torrent of obscenities, you're rapists, you're paedophiles, you're etc, etc.

02:08Every kind of obscenity was being screened at us and specifically at me and this just went out.

02:16I mean, we observed the silence.

02:18There wasn't really anything we could do except we could actually observe the silence, which we did.

02:25And afterwards I tried to point out that when I was speaking that the person who was in custody

02:34was not an immigrant, he's, you know, British born and bred, he's from Cardiff,

02:40that he is, you know, there's no question that there's any kind of Islamist terror association with him, etc.

02:51And we don't actually know what the situation was with him,

02:57although I think most people think it might be some kind of mental health issue,

03:01but there's certainly no evidence to actually associate it with the Muslim community.

03:07And I pointed out that this is being used by people to attack the Muslim community.

03:26Very sad day.

03:28I haven't actually felt that uncomfortable since 1980s when a group got chased out of Dagenham by Combat 18.

03:37And so, you know, really, really miserable experience.

03:43If I walk down Fracken High Street today, I am a foreigner in my own country.

03:49This is my country.

03:51If I go to India or Sri Lanka, I will bow down to their rules.

03:55I respect those people.

03:57They do not respect us.

03:59They do not respect us.

04:00So what have you seen that was disrespectful from them?

04:04Disrespectful? They've taken over the high streets.

04:09We can't have this going on and on in Portsmouth because I think it could actually be very, very dangerous for the city.

04:18The city has always been very good at actually standing up to bigots and racists and Nazis.

04:24And we've got to actually have a call out from community groups, trade unions,

04:31anti-racist activists that I think a number of people in this town just thought the Nazis have gone away and they haven't.

04:38They've just gone underground.

04:39I mean, this is happening up and down the country.

04:42And, you know, it's the old saying about all that is necessary for evil to prevail is that good people do nothing.

04:48And good people have got to get off their butts and get down there and actually say they do not speak for Britain.

05:02We don't care about colour, right?

05:05We don't care if you're black, pink, whatever.

05:08Whatever. We don't care.

05:10We care about our beliefs and how we treat people in public, you know?

05:16Not people's colour.

05:17People come out here thinking we're racist.

05:19We're not racist at all.

05:21That's what people want.

05:23We are not racist at all.

05:25OK?

05:27Do they have a knife?

05:29You know what the police are like.

05:30They worry about us more than them.

05:32They let them go and then we're back here now.

05:36To have a good time, have a peaceful time.

05:38That's what we're here for.

05:39We're here for peaceful protest.

05:40We're not here for violence.

05:41I think the problem with a lot of the people on these protests and that woman

05:45is that they've been getting their information off dodgy sites on the internet.

05:49And that's why, I mean, it's impossible to debate with these people.

05:52You can't have a discussion with somebody whose head is stuck down a rabbit hole.

05:57And this is the problem.

05:58A number of those people on those protests are convinced that the killings of those

06:05three girls were done by a Muslim and the entire media is conspiring to conceal that fact.

06:12And you can't really have a...

06:14It's like trying to have an argument with people who believe in werewolves.

06:17You know, if you actually believe that everybody is telling a lie except people

06:21like Tommy Robinson, there's not a lot you can do.

06:25All we can do is to actually try and stop them in their tracks,

06:29because we can't really have a debate with people like this,

06:32because they're incapable of listening.

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