Anxiety in Sheffield city centre as businesses shut ahead of rumoured right-wing anti-immigration demonstrations

The Star, Sheffield

There is anxiety in Sheffield city centre today (August 7) as businesses shut and events are cancelled ahead of rumoured right-wing anti-immigration demonstrations this afternoon and into the evening. Here is the scene in the city centre where shops normally open for the lunchtime rush are shuttered.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon Sheffield, it's Alistair from the Sheffield Star. I'm speaking to you from

00:03outside of Cambridge Street Collective where maybe for the first time since it

00:06opened there are no guests and no chairs out here today. They are one of a number

00:11of businesses here in the city centre who have closed today ahead of what are

00:15rumoured to be a series of far-right demonstrations that are going to set

00:18through the town this afternoon and maybe this evening. It's truly an

00:22anxious day here in Sheffield City Centre although the number of businesses

00:26that appear to be open possibly outweigh the number that are shut. A number that

00:29would normally be open on any other business day have closed and have

00:32publicly posted about it on Facebook and other social media channels. It's at

00:36this time when you start to notice just how many of the city centre's businesses

00:39and how many of the more recent developments are just made of large

00:42glass-fronted windows that are now either shut it up or just closed with a

00:47sign up saying that they're not open today such as this one outside of

00:49Cambridge Street of course. Taking a walk through city centre to the supposed

00:54rally points that have been organised from today using a series of unconfirmed

00:58posts that have been shared on social media that say there's going to be about 20

01:02different meet-up points across England and possibly even two in Sheffield just

01:05in the course of today at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. this evening. At midday there's

01:09nothing out of the ordinary at the moment but I think the whole city is

01:12still holding its breath to see what will happen towards the end of today. It

01:17comes of course following the riots that happened on Sunday August 4th at the

01:21Holiday Inn Express in Mambas Way over in Rotherham direction that caused tens

01:25of thousands of pounds of damage and was attended by over 700 attendees. During

01:30those events South Yorkshire Police have confirmed over 50 officers were injured

01:34while trying to sort of corral the crowd away from there but the damage included

01:38fires being set in the entranceway of the hotel as well as just bricks, bottles,

01:43debris, chairs, tables being chucked at the hotel or used to break windows and

01:48thrown into the entranceways. South Yorkshire Police has today said that

01:52they are aware of several protests organised across South Yorkshire

01:55possibly today and they will be on hand to deal with any crime and disorder as

01:59and when it happens. That bell you're hearing actually marks midday here in

02:05Sheffield City Centre. That means it's only an hour until the first proposed

02:08protest outside of Sheffield City Hall and whether it's some businesses in

02:13Sheffield or people in the city centre in general I think there's a sense that

02:17everyone's holding their breath to see what happens and if the protests that

02:21happen later, if they do materialise, will rise to the level of disorder

02:25that we saw in Rotherham on Sunday and parts like Tamworth and generally nationwide.

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