The parents of a seven-year-old girl who was killed on Mother’s Day have appealed for far-right protesters to stop using her photo.
An image of Emily Jones that was originally released as part of a police appeal has been used by Britain First and other groups with the slogan “White Lives Matter”.
Some demonstrators at a violent London rally to “defend” statues on Saturday also held photos of Emily and placards bearing her name.
Her parents, Sarah and Mark, appealed for people to stop using the photo.
“We are aware that many people are using the picture we released of our daughter Emily, when we publicly paid tribute to her following the worst day of our lives, as part of recent protests and campaigns,” they said in a statement.
“We hold this picture dear to our hearts and to see it being used in this way is incredibly upsetting – Emily loved everything and everyone, regardless of their race, gender or beliefs. As we’ve said before, she was beautiful inside and out and had a heart as big as her smile.”
The couple said they were still grieving for their daughter, and called life without her “a nightmare”.
“Seeing her picture being used as part of recent protests is causing us huge distress,” they added.
“A woman has been charged with the murder of our daughter and we want to ensure that we respect the legal process and ask people not to speculate over the circumstances surrounding her death.”
Emily was killed on 22 March in Queen’s Park, Bolton. Eltiona Skana, 30, has been charged with murder and is due to appear in court for a plea and pre-trial hearing on 15 September.
Other white murder and terror victims have also been used in recent protests in reaction to demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd in the US.
Earlier this month, the mother of murdered fusilier Lee Rigby called for his memory to stop being used to “fuel arguments against the Black Lives Matter protests”.
In a post on the Lee Rigby Foundation Facebook page, Lyn Rigby said: “Lee proudly served his country to protect the rights and freedoms of all members of this great melting pot of a nation.
“Seeing his image used to cause hate of any kind, especially for those exercising their freedoms in protest against this issue, hurts.”
