The Unity in the Community Stand up to Racism Rally
Watch as over 200 people join the anti-racism rally in Chesterfield.
Transcript
00:00Around 200 people gathered in front of Chesterfield Town Hall on Saturday to join the Unity in
00:14the Community Stand Up to Racism Rally.
00:18The event has been organised after a number of anti-immigration and far-right protests
00:22across the country, including an attack on Chesterfield premises hosting asylum seekers
00:27a week before.
00:28It was so important because the events of last week, especially last weekend, and I
00:37was at Rotherham at the hotel that was burnt, it was important to bring people together
00:44to make ourselves feel better, but also to publicly demonstrate that we are the majority.
00:50Anti-racists are the majority and we will stand together and I feel really much better
00:55now myself, so it was good for that reason, but also to make it clear to the minorities
01:01in Chesterfield that we are standing with them.
01:05Now, one, we are the people, two, we won't stand, three.
01:12What we've seen recently in this country is the far-right mobilising, just thugs really,
01:19just trying to scare people and trying to make people from our diverse community feel
01:25uncomfortable.
01:26And we are gathered here because the vast majority of people in this country are decent
01:31and we welcome asylum seekers, we welcome refugees and Muslim people, and people from
01:38all walks of life are welcome here.
01:40This is how you make a vibrant community, we are all the same, we're all together,
01:43but it's very easy for the thugs to be noisy and smash things up and get in the headlines,
01:48so instead we come here peacefully together and show solidarity with each other, with
01:52everyone, because we're all the same and peace and love will continue.
01:57Say it louder, say it clear, racists are not welcome here.
02:01And refugees are under attack, what do we do, stand up, fight back.
02:05That's fantastic, I think a really, really heart-warming turnout of over 200 people from
02:09Chesterfield, giving a clear message of unity in our community, that we won't stand for
02:14racism and division, we're horrified by the violence we've seen, and a real sense of determination
02:19that really we're better than that and our town is better than that.
02:23We've had some great speeches, some great poems, it's been a really powerful event.
02:27And hate crime is on the rise, what do we do, stand up, fight back.