Police defend response to masked march in city

South Yorkshire Police has defended its response to an early morning march by anti-illegal immigration protesters in Sheffield.

Dozens of people clad in black clothing, many of whom were masked, held banners as they walked along Staniforth Road in Darnall on Sunday from 05:30 BST before being dispersed by police.

At a public meeting on Monday in response to the march, local residents criticised the police response, with Fran Belbin, Sheffield City Council's leader, saying people were "quite angry".

Supt Martin Simcock told the meeting the force was "not aware of the planned activity - we hadn't got any information - so there was not an ability to plan or understand what was going to happen".

Police confirmed the protest was organised by Patriot Platform, an anti-illegal immigration group set up by Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo, who is an associate of Tommy Robinson - real name Stephen Yaxley Lennon.

The group also blockaded the Port of Dover last month.

Thomas is due to go on trial in 2027 to face a charge of criminal damage after a video appeared to show him slashing at a dinghy that had an emergency responder on board in the English Channel.

Organisers of Patriot Platform have previously said they were building a working class "voting bloc" to persuade political parties on the right to adopt their agenda.

A Sheffield group seemingly allied to the wider Patriot Platform group declined to comment on Sunday's protest when approached by the BBC.

South Yorkshire Police previously confirmed that after the group ended the protest, there had been a report of graffiti but no arrests had been made.

At Monday's meeting, held at the Pakistan Muslim Centre, Belbin described the march as "really terrifying for people who saw it".

People in the area were "quite angry at what they perceive to be a poor response", she added.

Belbin told the meeting the police response would have been different had the demonstration been planned alongside the South Yorkshire force.

"I think that a change in tactics by these groups is something we need to look at as a country," she said.

"There's clearly something the police really need to learn - and those of us involved with the council need to think about - how those tactics are changing, what can we do to make sure the intelligence is better, that we are getting forewarning when events like this are going on."

Safiya Saeed, former Lord Mayor of Sheffield and councillor for Burngreave, said: "I've got a hijab on, my daughter's got a hijab on. You can see we're physically Muslim.

"Seeing people with balaclavas, dressed in all black and just walking around, not chanting, we didn't understand where that's come from. That is really, really upsetting."

Saeed said that as a councillor, it was "embarrassing" she had not been told about what was happening.

She added: "Police didn't know about it, we hear that message loud and clear, but why didn't they know about it?"

Responding, Simcock told the meeting: "We do have intelligence teams and we do have various people that work within those areas, but we weren't aware of this situation and the activity.

"We had a call about five thirty in the morning in relation to this and we had a further call after that for which we responded within about 18 minutes.

"Initially, the information given was not particularly comprehensive and we provided a policing response to that."

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North