- Wednesday, April 24, 2024
By: Keerthi Mohan
Labour MP Jess Phillips got into a row with a Muslim protester outside a school in Birmingham amid ongoing protest over LGBT equality lessons.
Phillips was filmed arguing with a protester outside Anderton Park Primary School, where parents have been protesting for weeks claiming LGBT inclusion lessons were promoting homosexuality.
Speaking to parent spokesperson Shakeel Afsar, who has a niece and nephew at Anderton Park, Phillips said the protests were “damaging the reputation of a peaceful, loving community.”
“I am going to call for an exclusion zone to protect the 700 children at this school.”
When Asfar claimed there were only around 100 pupils at school, and that 600 from Muslim families had been told to stay at home, she said his claims were “simply not true.”
Asfar also accused the MP of being “aggressive” and “intolderant” towards Muslims.
She replied: “I’m not being aggressive. I apologise if you find it aggressive.
“Maybe if I got a loud hailer and stood on the back of a thing and shouted ‘I am not a homophobe, that would be less aggressive.”
She added: “All I want to say to you is I fear you are damaging the reputation of the Muslim community. All I want is for them to be able to go to school freely.”
Head teacher Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson told Sky News it was “so disappointing” that some parents had kept their children at home. She also said some parents were being intimidated at the school gates.
“There were a group of parents in various different positions around the school blocking the pavement,” she said. “So my deputy head went out and asked them to move to allow parents to bring in their children, and they were harassing people.”
