BANNERS from some of the biggest protests held in Bradford in recent years now form part of a new exhibition at one of the city’s museums.

Protest! In Our Time is a new permanent exhibition at the Peace Museum, telling the stories of contemporary peaceful protesters.

The museum, on Piece Hall Yard, asked for groups to donate any items from local protests, and thanks to a positive response, the exhibition features placards from the Shipley Feminist Zealots’ march in January and banners made for the Bradford Says No to Racism event in the city centre last year.

It also includes campaign materials from the local Amnesty International Group and protest-themed textiles on loan to the museum for the exhibition by artist James Fox.

The Shipley Feminist Zealots march was held in the town in February as a response to Donald Trump’s presidency and Shipley MP Philip Davies’s public support for him.

The group’s name came about after the MP claimed “feminist zealots” only wanted equality when it suited them.

Over 1,500 people attended the lively protest in the town centre, held the same day as numerous other anti-Trump protests across the country. Many were waving placards and banners highlighting issues of equality.

Others wore specially-made pink hats, which referred to a leaked recording of Donald Trump in which he speaks about groping women. One of these pink hats is now on display at the museum.

At the time, Mr Davies said he had only ever argued for men and women to be treated equally, and challenged the group to find any evidence to the contrary.

The new exhibition is part of a wider project ‘Protesting Now: Collecting for the Future’ which aims to expand the unique museum’s 7,000-item collection with new objects telling the stories of peacemakers now.

The museum is still accepting objects, and the exhibition will change over time, reacting to any new peaceful protests.

Shannen Lang and Charlotte Hall, who have curated the exhibition said “We are delighted to announce this brand new permanent exhibition which is the biggest change made to the museum galleries in a number of years.

“The exhibition is made entirely of brand new objects and aims to tell the important stories of people who locally and nationally campaign for a more peaceful and more tolerant world. This is perhaps relevant, now more than ever, when we live in an unstable and uncertain time.”

Anyone wanting to donate an item can call the museum on 01274 780241.

The museum is open Wednesday to Friday from 10am to 4pm.

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