A former councillor said her children have been left “terrified” after their home was vandalised following last week’s local elections.
Labour’s Juna Sathian, who has lost her seat on Newcastle City Council, returned home on Sunday evening to find that her house in Blakelaw had been pelted with eggs.
Speaking out after the attack, she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that “nobody should be made to feel unsafe at home” regardless of any political differences.
Dr Sathian, who is a physics professor at Northumbria University, served as a councillor since 2022 and was Labour’s cabinet member for climate and transport under Karen Kilgour’s leadership.
But she fell short in the Blakelaw and Cowgate ward at last week’s local elections, finishing just 22 votes shy as three Reform UK councillors were elected ahead of her. Coming home from a post-election Labour event hosted by Newcastle Central and West MP Chi Onwurah at around 8.15pm on Sunday, Dr Sathian discovered that her home had been egged.
Her husband and their two 10-year-old sons were at home at the time of the incident, which has been reported to Northumbria Police. Dr Sathian said the attack had left her children fearing that they “might no longer be safe here” and that they were afraid to walk to school on Monday morning.
The former councillor, who launched a litter picking campaign with her children in Blakelaw prior to her time on the council, added: “It is clear that this should not happen to anyone. I give a lot of my time for the community, every weekend I have been out and I will do it again because I like doing it. I take time from my kids’ weekends and have involved them in doing community work for the people here.
“We like doing it, my kids are happy doing it and my family has been very supportive of me. We really love where we live, I love the community and I will keep working for them.
“What happened to us on Sunday should not happen, nobody should be made to feel unsafe at home. Home should be a safe place for everyone. We can disagree with each other in politics, but personal threats and physical vandalism should not happen.”
Dame Chi has also condemned the attack, which came two days after Labour lost all but two of its seats on Newcastle City Council.
She said: “Juna worked so hard and with such dignity and commitment to serve her ward and the city, and always with good humour. For her family to be the subject of this kind of attack is unfortunately representative of the divisive, combative and aggressively hostile tactics some are seeking to bring to politics in our city. Whatever our political views we must stand firm against intimidation and threats and stand up for democracy.”
Last month, Labour election candidate Stephen Barry-Stanners also had his home vandalised.
The former Lemington councillor had abusive messages , reading “Peedo Scum” and “Peedo live here” spraypainted on the outside of his house.
Newcastle Lib Dem leader Colin Ferguson called on Monday for an end to the “nasty behaviour” that has marred the recent election period.
He added: “We wish to extend our thoughts and best wishes to all political colleagues who have recently experienced such nasty behaviour. Certain aspects of the recent situation have been horrid.
“Newcastle has not hitherto experienced this kind of harassment of politicians and political campaigners. These recent incidents are deeply regrettable and cannot be condoned.”
Newcastle City Council is in no overall control following last week’s elections. The Lib Dems ended up as the largest party on 25 seats, while there were 24 wins apiece for both the Greens and Reform UK.
