Warwickshire County Council: Police investigating 'hate' incident at Shire Hall protest in Warwick
A reported “public order offence with a hate element” is being investigated by police following last week’s protest outside Warwickshire County Council.
Thirty protestors gathered outside the county’s Shire Hall headquarters on Friday, May 22, half an hour before a public-facing council meeting in which it was decided to consult the public on plans to axe funding for Warwickshire’s Equality and Inclusion Partnership (EQuIP).
Many of the protesters then made their way inside to hear the debate and decision with an allegation made during open session that a discriminatory remark had been made outside the council building.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has decided against publishing further detail due to the status of the police investigation.
A statement from Warwickshire Police read: “We are currently investigating a public order offence with a hate element following a report of an incident outside Warwick’s Shire Hall on Friday, May 22.”
The force also confirmed that no arrests had been made as of Thursday afternoon (May 28).
The protest was largely visual with attendees, including serving county and district councillors from Warwickshire, decked out in bright colours matching those seen on the Pride flag.
Some waved Pride flags while others held up placards with messages such as ‘Love equality’ and ‘Equality and inclusion benefits everyone’. No counter protest was seen either outside Shire Hall or at the meeting.
The protest was in response to plans to withdraw entirely a £135,000-per-year county council contribution to EQuIP.
The charity, known as the Warwickshire Race Equality Partnership before expanding to tackle all forms of discrimination in 2017, provides discrimination and hate crime support, equalities training and guidance and aids engagement and community cohesion through services to community groups, faith groups, businesses, schools and public sector organisations.
The £135,000 makes up more than 60 per cent of EQuIP’s annual income with the consultation on whether to end the funding set to be rolled out by Warwickshire County Council at some point in June.