The first of today's Drag Queen Story Hour events in Bristol, scheduled to take place at Filwood Library at 10am, has been postponed due to 'concerns over safety'. This morning's (Friday) event was set to be the fourth story hour in Bristol - the first three were scheduled to take place yesterday, however one event at Henleaze Library was postponed, too.
A sign on the door of Filwood Library this morning read: "We apologise for the late notice, but today's DQSH has had to be postponed due to concerns over safety. Ticket holders should contact the library for further information."
Drag Queen Story Hour is currently on a UK summer tour, having started at Reading on Monday, July 25. The event is fronted by the Storytime Drag Queen herself, Aida H Dee, reading stories with the aim of 'engaging children's creativity and love for reading by giving them a brand-new, positive experience, one page at a time, all the while learning and communicating'.
Read more: Disruption and 'fears for safety' at Drag Queen Story Hour library tour protests
Aida, who grew up in Bristol, was extremely excited to return to the city for this event, saying: "I came out as gay in Bristol 10 years ago. I lived in Bristol and went to school in Bristol, specifically St Brendan's Catholic College!
"So I'm excited to return to a city I once called home and perform my books to children there."
Earlier this week protesters stormed the reading at a library in Reading, where police had to escort Aida from the building and to her next event - forming a human wall to protect her. Then, yesterday in Bristol, crowds of protesters gathered at Henleaze, Hillfields and Stockwood Libraries - the latter two events went ahead as planned, however, despite there being one arrest during the day.
It is not yet known whether or not the final two story hours in Bristol (scheduled to take place at 12.30pm and 2pm respectively) will still go ahead today. Parents who attended yesterday's story hours described them as "lots of fun".
In a tweet, Aida H Dee confirmed that the Henleaze event would be rescheduled, adding that it was 'most definitely not cancelled'. She also said that every story hour had been fully subscribed to, with all people attending.
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