A letter to the Sheffield Star
Sheffield Green Party will be joining communities this Saturday (26th) to stand against a far-right march through our city. We have proudly supported Sheffield as a City of Sanctuary over many years. Our Green councillors work for a city that gives care and hope to people who simply want safety.
This march comes after a burst of far-right activity targeting schools and migrant accommodation in Sheffield. It is being hosted by the so-called “Sheffield Patriots”, a loose group that sprang up during last year’s flag frenzy. They have links to open neo-Nazis and Patriot Platform, the masked vigilante group that rioted in Dover last week. This is the third demonstration in the city centre by the group this year – the last saw a dozen arrests as the group marched on the Holiday Inn near the Wicker.
So-called “auditors” or “citizen journalists” associated with the group have been behind a series of incursions against housing and migrant charities across the city. On social media, Sheffield Patriots have celebrated the violent attacks on refugee accommodation in Thetford and Belfast.
We at Sheffield Green Party believe that it is important to take a stand against this message of hate. The demonisation of firstly refugees, and then anyone non-white, is divisive and has already led to violence. Billionaire-funded media and billionaire-funded parties deliberately push this division into our communities to distract us and disempower us from taking action on issues that affect us all.
John Lilburne
Sheffield Green Party
