One person has been arrested amid a far-right protest outside Tate Britain, which has been hosting a drag queen story-telling event for children.
The Metropolitan Police said the person was arrested on suspicion of making a racially aggravated comment towards a police officer outside the central London art gallery on Saturday.
Around 30 far-right protesters clashed with similar numbers of counter-protesters who appeared in support of the story-telling.
No injuries have been reported and officers remained at the scene until the protest finished just after 3pm.
The Tate was hosting Drag Queen Story Hour UK on Saturday, with tales told by author Aida H Dee, who the gallery’s website describes as “the first drag artist in Europe to read stories to children in a nursery”.
Writing on Twitter, the drag queen said the day had been “proper emotional”, adding that five protesters had gained entry to the Tate and “caused a disruption” in parts of the building, but they did not affect the readings.
Aida tweeted: “5 haters made it into the Tate. They caused a disruption. BUT not to Drag Story Hour UK… They made a fuss elsewhere in the building, not where the show was!! SHOW 2 went swimmingly!!!”
The drag queen had been staging three story-telling sessions on Saturday, at 11am, noon and 2pm.
It is understood the protest group is led by far-right organisation Patriotic Alternative, while counter-protesters from Stand Up To Racism also appeared in support of the story-telling.
Right-wing demonstrators held signs reading: “No drag for kids!” and “Leave our kids alone!”
Signs from the second group read: “Don’t let the far right divide us” and “Trans rights now.”
On Saturday evening after the event, Aida tweeted: “Im in tears. I write this crying in a tube station. I may not be proud of my government, but I’m goddam proud of my community today!! THANK YOU!
“I performed my OWN published books AND IT WAS FABULOUS!!!”
Alex, from London, joined the second group of demonstrators on Saturday afternoon to protest against “impingement on LGBTQ people’s rights”.
She told the PA news agency: “I’m here because I think there is a disturbing rise in hyperbole that is going to be damaging to everyone. It is attached to, I think, just a rise in people’s desires to divide people and stoke fear for really ridiculous reasons.
“They are doing it through (a) ridiculously harmless and joyous thing. They are protesting about something truly wonderful that is just about expression and art and creativity.”
She believed the original group of protesters were being “stoked” by the far-right.
She said: “I actually feel quite sorry for the people that are here with the ‘Leave our kids alone’ signs because I don’t believe they believe it.
“I believe that actually panto for example has been a part of all entertainment forever and it fundamentally involves men in dresses telling stories to children so I feel that they don’t mean it either – they are just being stoked by people with ridiculous agendas.”
Jessica Walsh, 31, who works for a trade union, arrived outside Tate Britain at 9.30am as part of the Stand Up to Racism group, opposing the anti-drag queen story hour protest.
“Patriotic Alternative is a fascist organisation and they are looking to basically smash up LGBT culture in London,” she told PA.
“So I think it’s very important to oppose Nazis when they’re on the streets.”
Meanwhile Cheska, a woman in her 30s from London, told PA she was protesting over the Tate event because she felt drag queens are “not suitable” for children.
She said: “We have concerns because we feel that the costume Aida H Dee wears is sexually inappropriate. We have concerns about the contents of his book and we also have concerns about his Instagram, which has a lot of sexual references on there and a lot of children are starting to go on that.
“We’re here because we feel that drag queens are great but for people who are over 18. We feel like they are not suitable for anyone who is under 18.”
She said she had no connection with Patriotic Alternative and came to the gallery with a group of local parents and carers hoping to speak with parents attending the event.
Cheska said it ended up being “impossible” to talk to parents because of the opposing demonstration.
She added: “It’s become more of a stand-off. It’s become unfortunate because they’ve been quite violent towards us.
“They have tried to attack.
“It’s been really upsetting because there’s been a lot of name calling. I’ve been called a Nazi. It’s become really upsetting because we’re not Nazis and I can’t be responsible if other kind of Nazi groups come.”
Steve Norman, 72, of Finchley, north London, said he came to support the demonstration against Drag Queen Story Hour because he believed it was “a disturbing event”.
He told PA: “A drag queen in a pub who everyone knows is a bloke and even like pantomime, the kids know that the drag queen is a bloke. But I think that there is a deliberate confusion of boundaries because obviously children are vulnerable to being moulded and having their views and their outlook moulded by people who don’t necessarily have children’s interests at heart.”
Asked if he believed that was the case with the Tate story time event, he said: “I would say this is very dangerous. I would say this is at the extreme end of the scale. Shame on Tate Britain if they embrace this.”
Tate Britain said none of its events were disrupted by the protest.
A spokesman for the gallery said: “Police attended a disturbance outside Tate Britain this morning.
“The gallery has remained open to visitors throughout the day and all events went ahead as planned.”
