THE FORMER mayor of Pembroke Dock, Cllr Peter Kraus, is under fire for a controversial Facebook posting on his personal social media account – two photographs comparing Black Lives Matters protesters as monkeys.
He has since deleted the controversial images, and today claimed they were posted online by a hacker.
Speaking to the Daily Mail today he said: “That’s a hacker. That’s nothing to do with me whatsoever. I’m getting friend requests all the time, and they double up – it’s that sort of thing.”
“I don’t know how I was hacked. All I know is I had a thing from the town council to say about this picture on there which I never even put on. That’s how it is.
“It must have been posted to my timeline because the town clerk phoned me and said “what the hell is going on?” I’ve got lots and lots and lots of friends who are, black, white, and you name it as well, all over the world.”
The town councillor added: “I was made aware yesterday. I don’t know when it was put on there,’ he said. ‘All of a sudden I had a phone call from the town clerk to say about this picture, so as I said, it’s totally out of my hands.
“The thing is, I do lots for the town, volunteer work for the town. And what it is, I don’t have time to go on the computer very often now.”
He told The Daily Mail that his voluntary work commitments meant he rarely found time to use his computer – despite having made 62 posts to his Facebook in the past two days.
Local Naomi Carolyn Chiffi, outraged, also shared the image and wrote on her facebook page: “Welcome to Pembroke Dock. Where your local town councillors, Peter Kraus and Paul Dowson are not only actively and openly racist, but find glee in their bigotry. This sickens me beyond belief. Who are these people and why are they in positions of power in our otherwise lovely county? They do not deserve one ounce of respect.”
Fellow town councillor Joshua Beynon, who had proposed a recent lighting of County Hall in support of the Black Lives Matter protest, said: “After the past week, I’m sad to see another derogatory post, this time one that compares black people to monkeys, it is the lowest of the low.
“While it seems that there is a lot of hatred and negativity around, this whole event has highlighted the urgent need to fight racism that is clearly evident in our county. I will continue to call it out when I see it.”
Cllr Kraus said: “The point I was making was that we are worse than animals, It is bad enough with this pandemic without all these crazy things that are going on everywhere, It was not meant as an insult to black people.
“We are all humans, I have lots of black friends in London and all over the world who I respect; I am a person who loves peace, that is why I started a charity Over the Rainbow Dream Come True in 1999. I absolutely hate all this violence that is going on.”
Cllr Paul Dowson denied he is a racist. He said: “So, County Hall will be bathed in purple light to show our support for Black Lives Matter.
“Why?
“We all agree that black lives matter. As do white lives.
“Are we supporting the actions of BLM protesters stoning police officers in the UK over something that took place in the USA?
“Are we supporting those activists who are putting our lives at risk by not [caring] about social distancing.
“Who is footing the bill for these purple lights and the power required to run them, particularly given that money is in short supply during this pandemic. It could be better spent propping up our key workers.
“Yes, black lives matter, we do not need to waste money floodlighting County Hall to say this. I do not support this crazy idea and will make my feelings known with those who gave it the go-ahead.”
“As a footnote… who is going to see this light show? We are in lockdown.”
