Protesters took to Liverpool City Centre at the weekend to campaign against far right claims that immigration is a main cause of violence against women in the UK.
Pura Ariza of Women Against the Far Right (WAFR), which organised the demonstration, said: “We are absolutely appalled that the far right is trying to make a link between violence towards women and immigration.
“This has absolutely no basis in reality whatsoever.”
She said that data from the Office for National Statistics revealed that there was not any one ethnic group responsible for violence against women.
“We think the far right is trying to divide us on our side, to bring racism to the table in order to divide us.”
However, with this being said, she said that WAFR wouldn’t be intimidated by their efforts to weaken them.
Ms Ariza said: “We stand in solidarity with immigrants and refugees, we stand in solidarity, in particular with our black and brown sisters in particular.”
She added that Liverpool is a city built on immigrants and would not survive without them.
Similarly, Alan Brown, a participant in the movement, elaborated on the importance of sticking together.
He said: “We need to build a movement about everyone coming together, defending refugees, trans people, standing up for Palestine so that everyone is welcome here.”
“We all have to come together and build a big movement. What we want is a society where people can be themselves, they can live their lives, they can have the freedom to be their selves, that’s what we’re fighting for.”
