Covid vaccine protest angers South Wales Police boss

Protests against Covid vaccines are "crazy nonsense", the South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner has said.

Alun Michael said he was "very angry" after protesters in Cardiff intimidated a 15-year-old girl at a mass vaccination centre on Saturday.

Mr Michael said police had to protect the right to protest, but also questioned why some were "completely ignoring the evidence on vaccination".

He said one arrest had been made at the protest.

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Grace Barker-Earle, who has used a wheelchair since contracting Covid, was confronted after receiving a Covid jab at the centre.

Her mother, Angela, said protesters accused her of using Grace as a "lab rat".

Protesters leave mother and son in tears

Other parents said they felt "shaken up" by protesters.

One woman, who did not want to be named, said her car was blocked by a group of protesters while driving her 12-year-old son to the centre for his jab.

She said: "They were shouting at you, it was incredibly intimidating, my son was really scared… we were both in tears by the end of it.

She said the group were shouting "horrible stuff", as if she were "doing something horrendous"."By the time we got in the centre we were shaky, we considered not going in… we were so freaked out by it we wanted to come home.

"The staff in the centre were really nice to us, I told them we were shaken up and they did tell us that one of the male nurses had been called a child murderer on his way to work."

Another parent, whose twin sons got the jab at the centre on Saturday, said he had a woman shout abuse "inches" from his face.

The man, who also did not want to be named, said protesters held up anti-vaccine banners to the windows of the vaccination centre, before shouting abuse at his family when they left.

He said: "We went to go and they started chanting.

"I said 'you've absolutely got the right to your opinion but we've got the right to ours as well'. Then they just started shouting abuse... really vindictive stuff.

"All they wanted to do was shout abuse and not listen."

Grace was intimidated by protesters after getting a Covid jab

Ruth Clogg from Dinas Powys, Vale of Glamorgan, said the experience of taking her 15-year-old daughter for her vaccine was "very intimidating".

"They shouted 'shame on you as a mother' which wasn't pleasant, we all have choices and my choice was to let my daughter have the jab," she said.

"Why do they feel they have to shout it out and say things to me as a mother? I'm just protecting my daughter."

In Wales, the vaccine has been offered to 12 to 15-year-olds since 4 October. Public Health Wales figures show 34,325 people in that age group, or 23.4%, have been given a vaccine dose.

Alun Michael told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast he would support police action which protected people from intimidation while doing what is right for public health.

"I'm very angry about the attitude of these particular protesters, because what they're protesting about is crazy nonsense," he said.

"It could put some people off being vaccinated and clearly it's unacceptable in the sort of example that's mentioned.

"It's a difficult balance because it's a matter for the whole of society.

"Why is it that we have this group of individuals who are completely ignoring the evidence about vaccination? But the responsibility of the police is to keep that balance right."

Mr Michael said he walked past the vaccination centre on Saturday and saw police were making sure the protest stayed within the law, but protesters were using slogans which were "intended to intimidate" both parents taking their children for jabs and the media.

Angela Baker-Earle was in hospital with Covid and pneumonia last year, while Grace was "very poorly"

First Minister Mark Drakeford also condemned the actions at the protest, as did Economy Minister and MS for Cardiff South and Penarth, Vaughan Gething, who said it was "disgraceful" and "did not look defensible".

Mr Gething said: "A lot of people protesting say they are protesting to try to protect freedom. Well that doesn't look to me like people who are committed to respecting each other's freedom."

Dr Bnar Talabani, a doctor from Cardiff who has been tackling vaccine misinformation on TikTok, drove past the protest on Saturday.

She said: "I heard from the staff earlier that day that it wasn't just this poor girl they were intimidating they were actually intimidating older people that were trying to walk in to have their vaccine as well.

"They were saying things like 'it's an experimental vaccine, you're a guinea pig, stop letting them use you as a lab rat' - all the conspiracy theories that I've seen on social media over the past 18 months.

"Conspiracy theories that have been debunked so many times but there is a very small minority of people that are still spreading this misinformation and it's doing a lot of damage."

Francis Goncalves lost his brother, mother and father to Covid earlier this year

Francis Goncalves, from Cardiff, lost three unvaccinated family members to Covid within a week of each other earlier this year, said the protests were "disgusting" and "despicable".

He said those who are sceptical of the vaccine to speak to their doctors for advice.

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