“We are united" say people in Darnall at Stand up to Racism protest in Sheffield neighbourhood
“We are united and we want to stay united”
Protestors took to the streets of Darnall saying they want to “stay united” after crowds of people from out of town marched through the streets. the weekend before.
Stand up to Racism organised the protest on Saturday, October 17, in response to a demonstration by right-wing group Patriot Platform the previous week, in which large crowds of people - many wearing masks or sporting face paint - marched through the streets.
Those present at the latest protest chanted “Patriot Platform not welcome here” while carrying a banner that read “Darnall United Against Racism.”
One local resident, Ajaz Solja, described the community as a “multicultural, united area” as he said that people would not be bullied for their faith or race.
“There’s a pub over there - bang next to that pub there’s a mosque and they’re joined wall-by-wall,” he added.
“Now I know in most areas you don’t see that. You go outside that pub people are drinking, there’s no problem, next door people are praying.”
The alleged organiser of the previous protest - who goes by ‘Time to Talk - Michael’ on Facebook and is described as the leader of the Staffordshire Patriots - said that the action was against the nearby Lindburg Coaches, on Catley Road, who were accused of transporting asylum seekers.
He wrote on social media: “This had nothing to do with Muslims, racism or anything like that. It was about holding the people accountable who support this illegal invasion.”
However, Ajaz argued that the group had no reason to take to the streets of Darnall, saying “the only water we’ve got is a canal - there’s no boats coming here.”
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He claims the large demonstrations through the street are provoking existing issues Muslims are facing, saying that the protest “scared the living daylights out of kids” while young girls are already facing abuse on public transport with people pulling their veils off.
Ajaz went on to say: “We are united and we want to stay united.
“We don’t want division and we don’t want people from other areas coming and putting division in here.
“We want to spread this message across the UK, we want to stop this nonsense.”