A PEMBROKE Dock town councillor, who vented his frustration on social media over scenes of violence during the Black Lives Matter protests, had denied accusations of racism.

Cllr Peter Kraus had shared an image which appeared to compare black protestors with monkeys at a wildlife park damaging a car.

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 Kraus was later reported in other media, published after he had spoken to the Western Telegraph, as saying he believed his account had been hacked.