Sunderland Labour Group has called an extraordinary council meeting following Friday’s [2 Aug] devastating events.
Cllr Kelly Chequer, deputy leader, has invited all serving city councillors to an emergency meeting at City Hall next Wednesday [14 Aug].
Top of the agenda will be how Sunderland City Council will work pro-actively with Northumbria Police to prevent further events and hold those responsible for the events to account.
Also featuring on the agenda will be a request by the Labour Party for the Council to work with faith groups from across the city to tackle ‘rising Islamophobia’ and to involve people from all backgrounds in the shaping of a city-wide cohesion strategy.
Cllr Chequer said: “Following the devastating events which unfolded over the weekend, we have called an extraordinary council meeting to discuss how we can work more pro-actively with our communities and the emergency services to prevent future incidents from taking place and hold those responsible to account for their actions.
“Over the last 48 hours, we have met with multiple faith groups from across the city who have told us first-hand how many members of their communities have been left afraid to leave their homes following the events.
“These are people, who on the majority, were born and raised in this city, have raised families here and have made homes for life here, but have been left feeling as though they are no longer welcome.
“We have met with representatives from Northumbria Police, whose heroic staff were forced to go out into the midst of these senseless riots and face a barrage of not only verbal abuse, but physical abuse in the form of missiles.
“These are the same heroes who helped save countless lives in Southport last week. To think, we are now talking about the actions of a few far-right thugs instead of fondly remembering those who lost their lives in that attack, is an insult to their memory.
“That’s why we’re offering councillors of all political persuasion to join us in helping shape a cohesion strategy which – working with a cross-section of faith groups – will help our city emerge from this disaster better, stronger and closer to one another than ever before.
“We will also discuss the rising threat of Islamophobia, how we work with our hero emergency services staff to better support them in the event of future scenarios and demonstrate to the world that, what we all saw on Friday, does not reflection the people of Sunderland, but simply a small minority of Far Right thugs.”