Nottinghamshire Police boss has to 'engage with all sides' with another far-right protest expected

Gary Godden says 'everybody needs to be safe'

Nottinghamshire's police and crime commissioner says he has to "engage with all sides" as the county prepares for further far-right protests. Gary Godden, elected as Labour's police and crime commissioner (PCC) for Nottinghamshire in May, recently warned that far-right unrest could reignite "quite easily" in Nottinghamshire.

Early August saw a far-right protest take place in Old Market Square, in Nottingham city centre, as part of a wave of violence across the country following the death of three young girls in Southport. Scores of people have since been arrested, with incidents in Nottingham including a police officer being assaulted and an Asian man being punched and subjected to racist chants.

Yet Mr Godden says "elements" of both sides need to be understood. Ahead of an expected far-right protest next Saturday (September 28), which is again expected to take place outside the Council House, Mr Godden says he is beginning work on trying to engage with some of those taking part.

The PCC said: "I think we need to think out of the box. I don't think this is a one-size-fits-all.

"We have to engage with all sides. I'm the police and crime commissioner for Nottinghamshire.

"I have to make sure that everybody is safe, regardless of what their opinions are. That is my role.

"I look at it in the round, as opposed to just one side versus another side. It's really important that we understand why this happened, who's actually engaged in it, why they're engaged in it and where that's going to take us in the future.

"I think that some of the findings of that might be very interesting." The Nottingham branch of the Stand Up To Racism campaign says any protestors coming to the city on September 28 can expect a "vigorous response."

Asked about how hard it will be engaging with some of those involved in the unrest, Mr Godden said: "It's going to be really hard, but that is the challenge isn't it?

"They're not the only individuals out there who are feeling disenfranchised by either the state of the country, their communities or their environment. At the end of the day, there are lots of other communities that feel the same way.

"We need to understand why they feel that they have to vent it in that way. What we need to do as a shire is make sure that those individuals do not feel like there's nowhere for them to go.

"I can't just judge something on a left or a right basis. Everybody needs to be safe. Everybody has a right to protest.

"If that protest turns into violence, then it obviously becomes a problem for me. But the reality is that everybody does have that right, whether I like it or I don't."

Mr Godden added that part of his work will involve looking at how people can express their frustrations in a manner which does not lead to violent protest, with the PCC saying: "Politics is supposed to be a vehicle where people can vent their opinion and maybe elements of that are not working as they used to work. We find ourselves in this dichotomy of how do we voice our opinions?

"One of the ways of doing that is protest. However, it needs to be legal and it needs to be legitimate. Without that, we can't have that conversation. So I'm open to that conversation."