Tensions were high in Newtown at the weekend as anti-immigration protestors clashed with an opposition group.

Police estimate over 900 people attended the demonstrations on Saturday 13 September, where anti-immigration protestors outnumbered the counter protest group.

Police report one arrest was made for an assault on police - paramedics report the officer attended hospital for minor injuries.

Dyfed-Powys Police has not confirmed which group the person arrested belonged to.

The ‘Stop the Boats’ protest marched through the town before Reform Councillor Karl Lewis spoke, stating “stopping the boats” would be the “first thing Reform does” if elected, before holding a one-minute silence for the right-wing American activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot dead last week.

Newtown resident Dorothy Jackson also addressed the crowd, stating, “10 years ago we campaigned under that clocktower for Brexit... concerned with our leaking borders, concerned about the safety of our women and children.”

The counter protest was organised in response to the anti-immigration event, flew banners stating ‘refugees welcome’, hosted speakers including MP Steve Witherden for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr.

MP Liz Saville Roberts for Dwyfor Meirionnydd also spoke, calling the anti-immigration group to “know your history - our very name, ‘Welsh’, was given to us to mean ‘foreigners’.

“We were made foreigners in our own land by the elites who lead us astray with foolish division and hatred.”

Tensions were high as the two groups passed each other, when insults, coarse language and food were thrown, and police held the line in between.

Several businesses closed during normal working hours while the street was cordoned off.

The two groups briefly united in chants against the Prime Minister, Kier Starmer.

Stacey from Newtown said this was her first protest she has attended to “save her kids”, adding: “These people are coming in, they’re not even being checked, we don’t know who they are. I’ve got four kids at home, and I’ll be damned if I’m not going to do anything to stop it.

“This is our only way to be heard.

“If they [came here legally], it would be fine.

“We just want to know who these people are and what they’re going to do.”

Data analysis has found claims by Reform leader Nigel Farage linking foreign nationals to higher rates of sexual assault to be misleading.

The protest was organised the same day as far-right activist Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom protest in London - calls in support of Robinson aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, could be heard from the crowd.

A man holding a Patriotic Alternative flag also joined the protest - a group described as the UK's largest fascist group linked to land purchases in Llanafan Fawr.

Both protest groups mentioned issues of free speech, access to housing, support for farmers and small businesses, benefits and the NHS as things they would like to see improved, both expressing sadness for the “divisions” in the country.

Sioned from Llangadfan attended the counter protest because “I've got friends from different backgrounds who are scared to be on the street today, and that breaks my heart.”

She added: “My friends and I who are local don’t share the right-wing agitators' views.

“We have few refugees in Powys, so the narrative of ‘stop the boats’ just doesn’t apply to us here at all.

“I’m feeling positive and thinking about how to build bridges and heal the community after the event.”