We must stop the racists spewing hate from taking over our towns | Letters

Readers respond to the recent surge of intimidating rallies by the far right in England

Regarding your article (A racist mob menacing refugee children and our town. Read this and see what lies ahead, unless we act now, 9 September), my town has a small hostel that houses people who are seeking asylum. Recently, around 70 people draped themselves in the flag of St George, festooned the streets in the night, and came from across the country for a march towards the hostel. The local people tried to defend these vulnerable few. We gathered with our own flags to signify solidarity and compassion. We held banners saying that our town did not want racists terrorising refugees. We tried not to engage with them directly.

In the seemingly interminable time before the police arrived, we were screamed at, pushed, called filthy child molesters and scum. Women were threatened with rape, and aerosols sprayed towards women with children to “wipe out their stink”. Posters were ripped from our hands, and young children wearing flags were encouraged to scream obscenities. They were spitting out that asylum seekers were scum, vermin, child molesters and that we were going to be knocked down and smashed.