Ranvir Singh's poignant chat with protestor after avoiding London due to far-right march

Ranvir Singh has shared her experience being in London during the far-right protests on Saturday, revealing that she was forced to change her plans due to fearing for her son's safety.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain today, the broadcaster explained how the far-right protest left her feeling "nervous" to be out and about in London with her son but she refuses to believe that all in attendance hold racist views.

Her comments come as Sir Keir Starmer says he rejects the flag being used as a symbol of "violence, fear and division" after Tommy Robinson’s Unite The Kingdom protest on Saturday.

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He also said the Government "will not stand" for assaults on police officers after 26 were injured, including four who were seriously hurt, at the far-right activist’s event in London.

Between 110,000 and 150,000 people turned out for the protest, significantly exceeding the estimates of organisers, while around 5,000 “anti-racism” campaigners mounted a counter-protest.

Reflecting on the protests on the Good Morning Britain set today, hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley asked Ranvir how she felt being around the protesters as a person of colour. After revealing that she met someone on their way to the march, Ranvir recalled how she changed her plans and avoided central London due to the protest.

"It actually made me sad, because I think, I should be allowed to go into London and feel safe. You know, I live here, it's my place. But I didn't, I didn't take my son in - that made me sad. You know, the fact that you think, 'oh, it's not safe for my little brown boy to be in London' is a sad thing. But there you, pragmatic."

"Actually, it was interesting, at my local station, I was just queuing up to get a coffee, and the man in front of me was getting coffee from the guy who I think is Sri Lankan at the station," she went on to tell Richard and Susanna.

"We all know him, he's been there for years. And lovely, a really jolly chap, white guy, said, he said, 'oh, I'm going into London, I'm going to join the Tommy Robinson march'. And he goes, you know, and we just started chatting, the three of us, you know, which is, I think, what you need to do, interestingly. You do need to talk to people when you feel that they're on the opposite side to you.

"And he said, he said, 'I'm just, I'm curious. I'm curious to know how fascist these people really are. And my brother's a bit more far right. And I'm keeping an eye on him today'. He said, you know, I' don't know how the protest is going to go. The last one I went on was to remain during Brexit'."

She recalled how they had a laugh and a joke about Brexit and Remain stereotypes and continued a pleasant conversation. "I'm going to say he was a lovely man, even though he was going to a far-right march," Ranvir stated.

"In my opinion, you're going to support someone like Tommy Robinson. That makes me deeply uncomfortable. But the point is, you have to feel the pinch and still have a conversation with someone."

She went on to explain: "I cannot believe... I don't want to believe that 150,000 people are out and out racists. That isn't my experience of this country. In my head, I just can't equate that monolith, that huge number of white faces with my experience in this country. It just doesn't seem right to me."

"I worry about othering people who join the ranks and... the voice that they end up being spoken for and by is someone who is very extreme. So it was just to me, it was the nuance of it. And it's very difficult because the point being that for someone, anybody of my colour skin today, you have to work against your instinct to fear."

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood condemned the violent scenes on Saturday and vowed that anyone "taking part in criminal activity will face the full force of the law".

Three of the 24 people arrested were women with the rest being men, while the youngest and oldest people detained at the protest were aged 19 and 58 respectively, the Met said on Sunday.

A number of people were arrested for more than one offence. The force added officers were working to identify other people involved in disorder with a view to making further arrests "in the coming days and weeks".

The Met said it was also investigating a video circulated on social media which appeared to show a protester saying: "Someone needs to shoot Keir Starmer."

"We’re aware of a video circulating on social media from the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protest on Saturday 13 September in central London," a spokesperson said. "Officers are investigating and inquiries are ongoing to identify a man. No arrests have been made so far."

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