AROUND 20 protesters turned up at an event held at a Powys library where a drag queen was reading to children.

The event, held at Newtown Library on Monday (August 8), was part of the Drag Queen Story Hour, a UK-wide initiative providing fun and interactive kids shows with talented drag performers, with Newtown one of three stops at Powys libraries on the day – there was a similar event in Brecon, while another in Hay-on-Wye was cancelled.

The Drag Queen Story Hour UK initiative started seven years ago with the aim to “inspire a love of reading, while teaching deeper lessons on diversity”.

The company’s website says the events are about wanting to “show the world that being different is not a bad thing, and by providing imaginative role models for children to look up to, we can change the world book by book”.

Critics, however, claim it is sexualising children, and Dyfed Powys Police Chief Inspector for north Powys Jacqui Lovatt said a number of the force’s officers were sent to Newtown Library, located on Park Lane, after a number of protestors showed up.

“It’s a national event that has attracted some protests across the UK,” said Chief Inspector Lovatt.

“We had the event in Newtown Library today and that has passed peacefully, although there were a few protesters, about 15-20 people. But it’s all gone without incident. It then moved on to an event at Brecon.

“This is a ticketed event, people have gone with their families. It has generated some criticism, some people don’t agree with it. They had a few issues in Brighton, I think.”

Ch Insp Lovatt said officers were in the area as a precaution. “We were anticipating some issues, just with what had happened nationally,” she said.

“We had some officers in the area just to monitor the situation. I think the local authority put on some security stuff also just to make sure it ran smoothly, which by all accounts it has.

“My update was there was about 15-20 protesters. With freedom of speech, as long as there’s nothing offensive done or said, it isn’t a problem.”

The Powys leg is part of a summer-long tour, with the Newtown event at 11am on Monday, followed by one at Brecon’s Y Gaer at 4pm. Another at Hay Library at 2pm was cancelled due to the venue being unsuitable, according to the local authority. The tour moves to south Wales later this week.

Newtown Library had posted an advert for the August event in late July, which had been met largely with praise and enthusiasm by the local community, many of whom said they would be attending with their children.

There were some negative comments too though, with Marie Smith saying: “This is adult entertainment inappropriate for young children – also misogynistic parody of women reinforcing stereotypes.”

A similar event in Norfolk was postponed last week after protests outside, while one in Reading in July saw two people interrupt the session while another 25 protested outside the venue.

Titania Trust had been due to read a story to children at North Walsham Library last Tuesday, August 2. Norfolk County Council said it decided to postpone the event following safety concerns. The county's police force said officers “engaged with two people who were protesting peacefully” at the New Road library.

Joseph Ballard, who has performed as Titania Trust since 2011, said: “I was utterly disappointed, I've been doing Story Hour for a number of years, I've been up and down the country, and sometimes you get messages and threats but nothing of this scale.”