Wolverhampton businesses count cost of Britain First demonstration
Businesses have said they are counting the cost of a Britain First demonstration.
The far-right group marched through Wolverhampton city centre on Saturday, and were met by a group of counter-protesters.
Police flooded into Dudley Street to keep the groups apart.
Disruption continued for around three hours on the busy shopping stretch – with Britain First encircled by officers close to the Wulfrun Centre.
A West Midlands Police spokesman said businesses had been 'severely affected throughout the demonstration'.
Sarah Dacre from Patisserie Valerie said: "We were very quiet, much quieter than usual.
"We saw all the police coming past and groups of people and shouting.
"It was loud, there was chanting and we saw them all walk past, but they were all surrounded by police. We didn't have to shut our shop at least."
PICTURES and VIDEO: Police kept busy as Britain First arrive
Steve Franklin, who has run a hot dog and burger stand in the city centre for more than 25 years, noted it was a quieter weekend than usual.
He said: "I compared the weekend to last years figures and I was down a lot.
"For example, I had one customer who was going to come but didn't because he heard there was a trouble here.
"So it had got around on social media and became a bit of a no-go zone.
"I wasn't intimidated myself, but I can see some other people were.
"If they want to come down here, from London or wherever they come from march down here and cause disruption when they know they're not welcome here, they should expect some animosity.
"They tried putting leaflets on my stand but I told them they couldn't."
After arriving at around 11am, Britain First moved on just after 2pm.
Chf Supt Dave Sturman, from the Force Operations Department, said: “The right to demonstrate is a fundamental human right and we have a duty to facilitate peaceful protests, however we had not been given prior notice of the event – leaving little time to prepare.
“However our policing response was swift and robust ensuring that confrontation was kept to a minimum and the city of Wolverhampton returned to normality as soon as possible.”
