Nottingham Sea Cadet leaders say they are ‘outraged’ after two members were photographed by men from political party Britain First.
The far-right organisation posted the photo online saying it was ‘guarding’ the female cadets against ‘anarchists and Islamists’ but the girls say they had no idea who the men were.
My concern was that the rights of these children had been hijacked
Sue Dewey, chairwoman of Nottingham Sea Cadets said she was disgusted with the incident.
She said: “I got a phone call from a commanding officer of the unit who was accompanying the cadets selling poppies.
“He was deeply upset. He’d had an email from a colleague somewhere else in the country who had spotted that the photograph had appeared on the Britain First Facebook page.
Video: “I was horrified”: Nottingham Sea Cadets chairwoman Sue Dewey
“My concern was that the rights of these children had been hijacked by individuals and they were trying to exploit the cadets and their uniform and attach that pride and the poppy-selling to help their own aims.”
The Sea Cadets were quick to distance themselves from the picture and took to social media.
In a Facebook post the group added: “We are aware that an organisation we do not support or endorse is using an image of Sea Cadets to promote their own political agenda via their Facebook page.
“Sea Cadets is a national charity and an A-political organisation that is open to all faiths and we are fully inclusive. The posts on this organisation’s page are not in keeping with the Sea Cadet values or ethos.”
The image has since disappeared from the Britain First page.
No-one from the party could be reached for comment.
