A woman who shared an RNLI video on social media says she has received “pure hatred” following anti-migrant protests in England.
Councillor Elizabeth Evans, who represents Aberaeron and Aberarth in Ceredigion, shared a video on Facebook which showed New Quay’s RNLI lifeboat leaving the station on a training day.
According to Evans, the post – which attracted 30,000 views – drew comments of hatred, some of which she described as “really, really bad”.
It comes after RNLI volunteers in Portsmouth were targeted by protesters following the charity’s role in helping to bring migrants on a small boat to shore earlier this month.
The RNLI said it existed “to save lives at sea”.
Evans said she was “really shocked” by the reaction to the video.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
“And it wasn’t a few. It took me a good half hour to get rid of those comments, just one after the other. With that thread of hatred.”
Describing the comments, Evans continued: “The comment thread was ‘traitors’, ‘taxis for migrants’, they were some of the politest ones.”
She said one of the comments was suggestive of violence, adding: “I don’t want to go on because I don’t want to give those comments oxygen but they were really, really bad.”
Evans said she deleted the comments but was subsequently criticised for “shutting down discussion”.
“I wasn’t shutting down discussion because there was no discussion available to be had,” she said. “I was shutting down hatred.”