PROTESTERS of all ages made impromptu speeches in Hereford last night to call for hope to overcome the growing hatred directed at minority groups.

Several hundred gathered in High Town and explained just why they felt Donald Trump should not be afforded a state visit to the United Kingdom.

But the chants and banners covered a range of topics; from the US President’s environmental policies to the venom directed towards migrants in Herefordshire.

John Walker, from Hereford, pushed home the message that the threat from Trump was not confined to the other side of the Atlantic.

He told those gathered: “Nigel Farage, Trump’s big supporter, and UKIP have very similar policies while Theresa May was shamefully the first foreign leader to visit him. So it’s not just America – it’s also what we do in Hereford – and across Great Britain – to stop right wing populism from taking over.”

Pensioner Elspeth Parris, who is of Jewish heritage, had travelled from Llandrindod Wells to take part.

She said: “As a society we are being groomed to turn against groups of people. We are being taught to hate people who are different to ourselves – and we know from history where this can lead.”

Her words were applauded by many children, including seven-year-old Gillen Scott. The pupil at Hereford’s St James Primary School simply said he was there because Donald Trump was a horrible bully.

The protest had also been billed to show solidarity with migrant workers and many of the placards pledged to support the new arrivals to the county.

“Build bridges, not walls,” read one poster while another asked “Who picks your apples?”

The demonstrators marched through the city and into the Old Market shopping centre shouting ‘love, not hate, make the UK great’ and received verbal abuse from drinkers outside pubs on Widemarsh Street.

Maddie Fox, who is 14, had earlier told the crowd that such hatred was becoming commonplace.

“I have seen an increase in casual sexism and homophobia to such a point that it is almost becoming normal,” she said.

Matt Hatter, from Hereford, thought that the recent US election and Brexit referendum had given some people the mistaken belief that they now had the right to be racist and were “supporting ideologies that their grandparents fought against”.

“Those who believe in democratic systems must accept the results,” he added.

“But that doesn’t mean we have to accept the vitriol that has come with them.”