The post you are reporting:
I also think Chris so far has been an excellent Mayor. I have copied and pasted the following from his One Year as Mayor FB page for those who can't access it.........
"Yesterday (30th January 2016) was a dark day for Dover, it was also a day on which so many of our residents showed what is best about the town. While those had come looking for confrontation and intent on causing harm there were so many looking out for people caught up in it, caring for them and helping them get to safety. People understood and were sympathetic to those working at the time and showed their concern and support for them. Our police, in the front line of it all acquitted themselves well and managed to face the very difficult odds well without forgetting to show compassion and offer assistance to those caught up in it.
While people have a right to demonstrate, yesterday Dover was invaded by factions who have no respect for others and had arrived, many equipped to cause chaos, looking for a fight and with no regard for the people and town they were in. Most protests and rallies go ahead peacefully, no matter how noisy they can get, and I want to think that the organisers on both sides did not set out to create chaos. What happened yesterday was large groups who prefer to use fists than reason setting out to confront each other away from their own homes. Masks, smoke bombs, rocks and fists are not the chosen tools of anybody wishing to get their point across. Yesterday both Dover and the legitimate protests were the target of those for whom violence is the only language they can understand. Such people are not welcome here or anywhere that civilised people live.
For the morning I was in Market Square, in a personal capacity, as I do not like fascist ideology and have an aversion to people being considered as generalisations. The organisers of that rally had intended a controlled event with a few speakers that would disperse prior to the march and that is precisely what they did. The inclusion of Diane Abbott on the bill was, to my mind ill-considered and although her actual speech was short and not particularly inflammatory her presence was not helpful. I was far from happy to see a large contingent arrive in masks and, while not over surprised, angry to see how they set off on-masse (almost to a pre-arranged signal), unfurling flags as they went. I was even less happy to hear a trade union leader then calling for the rally to stop and join them. The organisers then finished their speeches, cleared up and dispersed as planned. The short speech I gave was delivered to the twenty or so attending that had gone to listen, not to look for trouble.
"This week I attended a very moving service for Holocaust Memorial Day. During the event we remembered the genocides carried out by the Nazi's, Khmer Rouge, Rwandans and others. The service ended with a prayer, movingly led by a young German girl.
One of the biggest problems we face today is perception. Instead of seeing the fighting and suffering that is causing so many to flee their homes too much attention is being focussed on their numbers. Instead of seeing people leaving everything they know behind them to find safety and security they are themselves being seen as the threat.
History shows us that in every case, while people are fleeing in large numbers the perpetrators hide themselves among their victims. They do so not just to escape retribution but also to perpetuate their cruelty by trying to deny their victims that thing we all need, hope.
Sadly, it is all too easy for too many to identify the victims with the perpetrators.
This blinkered view has nothing to do with security and everything to do with fear of difference and it works both ways. When victims and perpetrators are lumped together then they will all feel isolated and that minority of perpetrators becomes embedded. Keeping hope alive for the majority isolates the perpetrators and makes it easier for the security agencies to keep everybody safe.
Just as a German girl leading prayers on Holocaust Memorial Day shows that you cannot judge a person by the acts of some of her forbears so too can you not judge people by their race or creed. The only thing such blind racism does is perpetuate your own fears.
It is every parent's duty to protect their families and it is their duty to them to get them out of harm's way in times of war and disorder. Nobody should have to run a gauntlet from aggression into aggression. It is the job of the security agencies to keep us safe while it is the duty of humanity to keep hope alive. A humanity that lets itself be driven by hatred is self-defeating, only with caring, compassion and hope can we all the security and freedom which is our human right. "
We need a multi-agency meeting in Dover to go over the course of events and to reach agreements on how such a situation can be avoided in the future. Tomorrow I will be asking for just that."