Coronavirus crisis showing the 'best and worst' of Sheffielders

In recent days communities across the city have been coming together in solidarity but some people have also been doing the opposite; shoppers have fought over the last packet of toilet paper, supermarket workers have been verbally abused because they have not been able to restock an item immediately, and healthcare professionals have been racially abused.

Stand Up To Racism Sheffield - a branch of an anti-racist organisation that operates nationwide - believes that ‘the coronavirus crisis is raising massive questions about the society we live in’.

Weyman Bennett, from Stand Up To Racism, said: “As this crisis unfolds, we, and the wider anti racist movement, want to stress the need to keep up the fight mobilising against racist scapegoating and division.

“It is no coincidence that following Johnson’s intensification of the ‘hostile environment’ and raft of racist policies in the first months of this year, that racist attacks on people perceived to be Chinese have been on the rise – including a health worker en route to an overtime shift to help fight coronavirus.”

Weyman also spoke about people in refugee camps, who may be forgotten in the current crisis: “We stand in solidarity with the refugees fighting for their lives trapped in camps and being attacked at the borders.”

Stand Up To Racism - which is made up of students, trade unionists, faith groups and others - was due to protest in London and Glasgow on March 21.

The event was to mark UN Anti-Racism Day, and 60 years since the apartheid government in South Africa.

The organisation was not deterred however, and held a World Against Racism online rally instead, featuring speakers from around the world.

Individuals said that Donald Trump’s scapegoating and Viktor Orbán’s blaming of ‘foreigners’ for the disease had led to a ‘spike in racist attacks and spreads fear’ so it is important that they continue their work.