STATEMENT FROM SHEFFIELD STAND UP TO RACISM RE LAST
MINUTE CANCELLATION OF UKIP’S YOUTH CONFERENCE
Anti-racism group Sheffield Stand Up To Racism along with other antiracists in the city have successfully managed to force UKIP to cancel its Youth Conference planned for tomorrow at the Sheffield Hilton hotel.
On Monday, Sheffield Stand Up To Racism called a demonstration outside the hotel supported by Sheffield Unite Against Fascism because UKIP had invited Martin Sellner,
Austrian leader of Generation Identitaire (the far-right anti-immigration & anti-Muslim network) to be the main speaker along with Anne Marie Waters the UKIP leadership
challenger and former leader of Pegida in the UK.
(Sellner is also one of the organisers of the Defend Europe network which has been taking direct action against migrants and refugees. He has admitted to having Nazi
sympathies in the past).
UKIP also failed to secure any other venue in Sheffield or Barnsley including the Novotel in Sheffield. We are grateful to all the venues who declined the booking from Young
Independence, the youth wing of UKIP, rejecting the party’s racism, Islamophobia and hate.
Due to the bad publicity a protest will cause, Hilton Hotels & Resorts (a company which employs people from around the world), released a statement yesterday (31st August)
explaining that they ‘do not discriminate against any individual or group.’
In addition to cancelling the conference, UKIP had to cancel a planned ‘Revolution’ river cruise from Sheffield on Saturday evening. We congratulate the cruise firm for making the right decision.
Stand Up To Racism and other anti-racists will continue to challenge racism and the far right at all times and will always be prepared to stand up to UKIP’s backward and divisive policies.
Sheffield is and will always be a City of Sanctuary which welcomes refugees and asylum seekers from around the world.