Council backs city's minority communities in vote

The vast majority of Oxford City Council councillors supported the motion

An authority has voted to stand against "toxic far right narratives", with councillors saying communities were "living in fear" amid a surge in protests and hate crimes.

It comes after a number of protests and anti-racist counter protests took place outside a Holiday Inn in Oxford, where asylum seekers are housed.

There was also a hate crime at Oxford Central Mosque in August, where a man stuck pork and an Israeli flag at the door.

A Green party motion calling on Oxford City Council to stand with minority communities and oppose far right rhetoric was discussed by councillors at their full council meeting on Monday.

Dr Alex Powell, the Green councillor who proposed the motion, said it aimed to address the spread of far right narratives from both Government and protestors.

The motion also asks for the leader to write to the Home Secretary to restate its opposition to Campsfield House in Kidlington reopening.

Labour's Simon Ottino said: "What we have seen recently is the whipping of hatred and demonisation of minorities by super rich people like Elon Musk.

"It seeks to turn ordinary working person against ordinary working person, blaming each other for our problems when the real reasons we have those problems is the inequalities in our society.

"It's up to all of us, not just as a council, but as individuals, to come out and challenge these false narratives and physically show we stand with those minority groups."

However, Anne Stares, from the Independent Oxford Alliance, said the motion was "virtue signalling at its best".

She added: "Immigration has been part of the backbone of this country, and we are the better for it.

"But how many of us would go home tonight and leave our front door open for anyone to come in?

"You ask for a fairer and more welcoming Oxford to those we know nothing about, while at the same time you support and promote unfair and discriminatory restrictions to be placed on our own residents."

Liberal Democrat Jo Sanderson said her comments were "dog-whistle politics", and that as a Jewish person herself she and other minorities felt "increasingly fearful" due to the "tsunami of hate speech on social media".

Dr Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini, who represents the Oxford Community Independents, added: "It is not illegal to seek asylum. All the people at the asylum hotel have sought asylum.

"It is bad policy to place them all in one place in the most deprived part of Oxford and then expect there to be no issues arising."

Green councillor Chris Jarvis said: "Since this motion was drafted we have already had things getting a lot worse, and that's only in the last two weeks.

"We are a rich tapestry, we are strengthened by our diversity, and we must stand up as a council and as a city for that diversity, unite against the far right and the divisive narratives of them."

The motion passed with the vast majority of councillors supporting it, and three Independent Oxford Alliance councillors abstaining.