AROUND 300 people attended an anti-immigration protest in Wisbech Park today.
They gathered to hear speakers, many carrying placards calling for an end to migration and for Britain to leave the EU.
One said “pensioners before asylum seekers”, another called for “no more European unelected bureaucratic rule, we want out”.
Two speakers from UKIP, who were due to attend the event, sent their apologies. The party said people should protest via the ballot box, rather than on the streets.
Organiser Dean Everitt said successive governments had lied about immigration and failed to deal with the issue.
“Brussels is a million miles from here so why are we living under Brussels rules,” he said.
“Why are our own government not taking stock of our own problems and dealing with them for us.
“Why are we left in the hands of strangers who push these problems into us?
“We’re not allowed to deport foreign criminals; we’ve got to put up with them living in our country, scrounging benefits, taking liberties.”
When Mr Everitt asked the crowd if anyone present had experienced problem with migrants, one man shouted: “Revolution.”
Another shouted: “They ought to fill that tunnel in. That’ d make it harder for ‘em to get here.”
Not everyone agreed with Mr Everitt. One woman heckled him, shouting that migrants were not to blame for the town’s problems.
“I’m not blaming them,” said Mr Everitt. “It’s the government, it’s the system.”
Sharon Jardine, who has set up a Wisbech immigration Facebook page, said: “Today is a big day for Wisbech. You’ve had your say; you’re going to be heard.
“We have a message and that message is we want immigration to stop. We want it sorted now.
“We want David Cameron to see that we are sick of being treated like second-class citizens in our own country.”
Protestors were watched over by a sizeable contingent of police. Some filmed the protest.
At one point, there were fears far right elements would try to hijack the event. But there were no arrests and the rally passed off peacefully.
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