Row as angry confrontation between anti-vaxxers and council official outside Sheffield town hall goes viral

Members of the group which had gathered on Pinstone Street filmed the row, posted the video online and complained to Sheffield Council about a member of staff trying to take their banners down and move them on.

But residents who have seen footage of the confrontation on November 20 have sprung to the defence of the council employee, who was alone, and challenged over half a dozen anti-vaccine protesters.

She was filmed by protesters asking them to leave in a video post that has gone viral online.

Anti-vaxxer Peter Hastings, aged 38, from Nottingham, said he liked to offer helpful information about the vaccine, and he and his colleagues did not cause any harm.

He added he and his friends felt alarmed, distressed and harassed as the council worker tried to remove their banners, fixed on railings close to the Christmas Market on Pinstone Street.

HEALTH: Sheffield’s Director of Public Health Greg Fell explains the five ways to protect yourself from Covid and flu this winter

Comments on the video have emerged on social media.

One resident said: “The council worker has not done anything wrong, She was trying to remove unauthorised banners on council property. They shouldn't have been there and its the protesters who are quite clearly intimidating and aggressive towards her.”

Another added: “Well that’s clever a group of protesters, trying to intimidate a lone person who was trying to remove unauthorised banners.”

Another added she would be contacting the council to lodge her support for the council employee.

She said: “It’s is awful to watch. The intimidation to one woman on her own by those ‘protesters’.”

Richard Eyre, Sheffield Council interim director of operational services said: “We are aware of a video in circulation featuring a member of Sheffield City Council staff.

“A complaint has been received and it will now go through the Council’s Corporate Complaints Procedure.”

Sheffield’s director of public health Greg Fell has urged people to get vaccinated.

He said: “One year ago we would have been in full lockdown with this infection rate and these figures.

“The vaccine programme is the thing that made all the difference.

“The rate is high and some people are ill or in hospital but it is nothing like the same as it was in the past. It is in a completely different league thanks to the vaccine.”