Covid: Anti-vaxxers who intimidated teen blasted by Mark Drakeford

It is "not acceptable" for anti-vax protesters to intimidate people outside Covid vaccination centres, the first minister has said.

Mark Drakeford was speaking after a 15-year-old girl and her mum were confronted by protesters in Cardiff while going for a jab on Saturday.

Grace Baker-Earle said the experience "hit a spot" as she uses a wheelchair since contracting Covid.

Other parents said they felt "shaken up" by protesters.

South Wales Police said officers attended and one arrest was made.

Mr Drakeford said: "People are entitled to protest, people are entitled to express their view.

"They're not entitled to do it in a way that intimidates others.

"When you're talking about harassment, it's not what the person who is making the protests thinks about it, it's the impact that has on the individual.

"Very clearly in this case, that young woman felt intimidated."

Mr Drakeford told BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement that the "enforcement authorities... need to be prepared to step in".

"They are right to say that people have a right to protest and so on, but they need to think about it in terms of the impact that will have on the individual who is being, in this case, directly approached by a group of people."

Grace's mother, Angela, said "it was incredibly unpleasant" experience when the protesters accused her of using her daughter "as a lab rat" at Cardiff's Bayside mass vaccination centre.

Ms Baker-Earle, from Cowbridge, in the Vale Glamorgan, said 15 protesters walked in front of her car and she had to tell one man to "step back".

"He was within two feet of me, looked at me as if I was stupid. I told them: 'You have literally surrounded my car'."

She said a vaccination centre steward then came out and checked she and her daughter were safe.

Meanwhile, another parent, Melissa Ringham has called for more protection for people entering vaccination centres.

She said her 15-year-old daughter and herself felt "shaken up" after being targeted by protesters yesterday at the Bayside vaccination centre.

The 42-year-old mother, from Barry, said they were followed by a protester "walking behind us" and "wouldn't leave us be" as they walked up to the vaccination centre entrance.

"He got into my daughter's personal space and started shouting at her. I said: 'Stop, please don't speak to her like that.' I also raised my hand out to say stop," she said.

"It was very upsetting to see how upset my daughter was, she didn't have to witness that.

"I didn't feel safe walking in there yesterday.

"As we walked out, we had one woman screaming at us: 'Shame on you - you're killing your daughter'."

Ms Ringham also said a nurse inside the vaccination centre told her "many were too scared to walk into the building".

Cardiff and Vale health board has be asked to comment.

On Sunday, South Wales Police confirmed a 61-year-old man from Newport was arrested, and released on bail, for racially aggravated offences.

The vaccine has been offered to 12 to 15 year olds in Wales since 4 October.