'Pride banner slashed and defaced'

Organisers said they had reported the incident to police as a hate crime

Pride banners have been slashed, defaced and then, once cleaned, cut in half, a spokesman said.

Ronan Clayton, organiser of Congleton Pride, said the first banner put up in June was cut into pieces, a replacement was defaced on 9 July and once cleaned, it was then cut in half a day later.

The event, Congleton's fifth, is to be held in the town centre on Saturday and Mr Clayton said they felt they had a duty to report the incidents to Cheshire Police as a hate crime.

The force has been has been contacted by BBC News for a response.

The banner has been targeted three times

"At first I was upset, and when we found out and we were told about the banners being defaced, ripped up, cut down, I was in tears, I'm not going to lie," he said.

"But now it's made us even more determined to make sure this event does go ahead and does celebrate LGBTQIA+ people."

In 2021, a poster for the event was removed from outside a church which was reported to police.

Mr Clayton said the organisation had rebranded to reflect its five years and to incorporate as much of Congleton in a new logo.

"There's ribbons to celebrate Congleton's history with ribbons," he said.

"There's the bear to incorporate that we're Beartown [the town's nickname]... we wanted to make Congleton more open to come into the idea of being proud - it's not just LGBT Pride, it's pride in Congleton.."

There had always been some negativity around the event, he added.

"We will always have that negativity and we understand that, but on the day when you come down into Congleton Pride, all you feel is just love and it is just so nice to see people being who they are, who they want to be."