A woman who said she was part of the “anti-racist, working class” has gone viral for her message to immigrants amid the recent far-right violence.
Over the last week and a half, riots driven by anti-migration extremists have swept across the country.
Protesters have clashed with police while attempting to attack hotels accommodating asylum seekers, various shops and some vehicles, leading to around 500 arrests.
The violence has left people from minority communities particularly threatened and changing their day-to-day lives out of fears for their own safety.
On Thursday, there was a large police presence in Barnsley out of fear there could be an outbreak of violence. Three people ended up being detained.
But, during an interview with Novara Media, one local woman offered a robust defence of immigration.
She began by listing all of the venues “owned by people not from Barnsley, foreign people”.
She said: “Everything in this town has got some contribution from non-British, non-Barnsley people.
“Half our Barnsley team are not British, and we love it!
“The immigrants make our society better, they’re what make us better as people, and make us proud to be British.
“And I’m sick of it, I’m sick of people making a small minority in society the scapegoat for all the problems.
“Your problems are from classism, your problems are from the top down, people making us feel small because we’re working class.
“But I’m proud to be working class, and I’m proud to be anti-racist working class as well.
“And I will not have it in my town.”
There are hopes that the violence may start to fizzle out after Wednesday’s anticipated mayhem did not appear, amid the high sentencing rate among arrested protesters and the anti-racism rallies.
However, the government and the police are still on “high alert” in case of any further unrest over the weekend.