Far-right 'groomed' town during protests - ex-minister
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Far-right activists groomed people by "piggybacking on legitimate concerns" about asylum seekers, a prominent Welsh politician has said.
Former government minister Lee Waters said vulnerable constituents in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, were targeted to push a "race agenda" during protests in the town in 2023.
UK government plans to temporarily house asylum seekers in the four-star Stradey Park Hotel prompted 100 days of protests.
The Llanelli MS' comments come as pressure grows on police to investigate a far-right group exposed in an undercover BBC investigation.
"What the far right do time and again is put themselves in the middle of legitimate grievances and push their agenda of race," said Mr Waters.
"In the case of Llanelli, people were rightly annoyed and upset that they couldn't get to see their doctor [or] be housed, and saw the one nice hotel in the town given over to asylum seekers
"The [far-right] groomed people. They took vulnerable people and gave them a purpose, a community and created a sense of of camaraderie.
"People who otherwise hadn't been radicalised and hadn't talked about politics were suddenly coming out with stuff which was horrible and did not represent most people in Llanelli.
"They have a very clear tactic and we need to call them out to challenge it."
His comments come as leading political and legal figures have said the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have a "duty" to look at evidence gathered by the BBC Wales Investigates team into Patriotic Alternative (PA).
An undercover reporter spent a year investigating PA and its members in Wales who were filmed saying the group should mimic political tactics used by the Nazis and migrants were "parasites" who should be shot if they do not leave.
Now a former government adviser on terrorism law, an ex-police and crime commissioner and leading politicians are all urging police action.
"The police need to take action, not make martyrs of them, but treat them as violent criminals, which is what this behaviour is," said Mr Waters.
Former North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Winston Roddick K.C, said it was "essential" police and the CPS follow up on the report.
"They have a duty to look at the evidence," he said
"Some individuals say they are going to get arms and guns. That's going to incite others to do the same and through inciting they themselves are committing a crime."
PA leader Mark Collett said they were not extremist, do not promote violence and peacefully campaign for the rights of what he calls "indigenous British people".
The group, considered to be the UK's largest far-right group with about 500 members and thousands of followers online, says it exists to "raise awareness" of immigration and promote "family values".
Lord Carlile, who acted as the UK's Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation from 2001 to 2011, said the undercover report was "extremely concerning".
"It seems that organisation should be the subject of a police enquiry and possibly a charging decision by the director of public prosecutions," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.
"If the BBC reports are correct, there is at least the beginnings of evidence of incitement to commit crime, including violent crime against immigrants, and that is not acceptable in our society."
PA has regional branches around the UK and encourage members - including former teachers and nurses - to hold protests, highlight immigration issues, film their activities and share clips online.
The BBC Wales Investigates reporter infiltrated the group in Wales, posing as a new recruit and filming its activities.
One PA member said he believed a race war was inevitable and the organisation should use a similar tactic to the Nazi party to gain power.
Former counter-extremism commissioner Dame Sara Khan believes the UK government should urgently change the law to ban such groups.
Lord Carlile, who also served as MP for Montgomeryshire for 14 years until 1997, added: "People are entitled to form political parties and express strong views.
"But they are not allowed to incite crime and the reports suggest Patriotic Alternative may have crossed the line."
Sioned Williams, who sits on the Senedd's equality and social justice committee, backed calls to ban the group.
"The law needs to be looked at to designate extreme right-wing groups like these as terrorist groups," she said.
"They represent a threat to society and to a number of people from specific groups within our society."
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