A US town has held a rally to welcome refugees following Donald Trump’s election victory.

Neighbours in Charleston, West Viriginia say they want to send a strong message in light of anti-immigrant and refugee rhetoric during the US presidential campaign.

Concerned residents formed the group ‘West Virginia Welcomes’ and gathered along Kanawha Boulevard for their ‘Virigina Welcomes Refugees Rally’. A Facebook page advertising the event urged locals to: “Bring signs, bring your neighbours, bring your big hearts. Goodwill will always rise over evil. Together we are a stronger nation.”

Organisers wrote: “We must come together after this election and show our love for our refugee brothers and sisters, for our Muslim family, for immigrants, for black lives, for LGBTQ neighbors, and for our daughters, sisters, wives and all the women in our lives.

“Fear may run the White House, but it will not run our Community. We must bring love and compassion once again out of the shadow and show how much love we have for our neighbours in West Viriginia.”

Wama Shaalon attended the rally with a sign stating ‘WV welcomes refugees with open arms’ and told WV Metro News: “I think standing up for our refugees that are in a war-torn country is a very important thing because I would like to think that if we were in the same place that they would accept us like we are accepting them.”

Noorda Shan, a local high school student, said she feared Mr Trump’s posturing about building a wall along the border with Mexico: “That’s not what America is all about. America is about freedom and diversity.”

Others reportedly carried banners with statements including “Love Trumps Hate”.

Residents in the town also held a rally last year calling for Syrian refugees to be accepted, following the Paris terror attacks.

Following the election result, a spike of hate crimes has been reported in the US, including alleged racist, Islamophobic and homophobic attacks. One woman said said she was shopping in a local Wallmart the day after the election when another woman approached, pulled off her hijab and said: “This is not allowed anymore, so go hang yourself with it around your neck not on your head.” A black woman in Indiana said passersby shouted “F*** you n***** b****. Trump is going to deport you back to Africa.”

Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Show all 16 1 /16 Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump E Jean Carroll Author Carroll alleges that Trump pinned her against a wall and forced himself upon her in the changing rooms of a Manhattan department store in the mid-90s Getty Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Kristin Anderson Anderson alleges that Mr Trump touched her genitals while at a club in the early 1990s Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Jessica Leeds Leeds told the New York Times that Mr Trump groped her on an airplane in the 1980s BBC Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Natasha Stoynoff Stoynoff alleged that Mr Trump forcefully kissed her before an interview at his Mar-A-Lago estate in 2005 Everipedia Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Karena Virginia Virginia alleges Mr Trump groped her in 1998 outside of the US Open tennis tournament BBC News Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Temple Taggart Taggart claims Mr Trump gave her a kiss without consent during a rehearsal for a 1997 Miss USA pageant Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Summer Zervos The former Apprentice contestant alleged that Mr Trump kissed and groped her at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2007 Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Alva Johnson A former staffer for Trump's campaign, Johnson alleges that Trump forcibly tried to kiss her after a rally in August 2016 MSNBC Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Jennifer Murphy The former Apprentice contestant said Mr Trump "surprise kissed" her - but she said it did not bother her Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Jill Harth The makeup artist accused Mr Trump of "attempted rape" while in his daughter's room in 1997 Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Mindy McGillivray McGillivray alleges Mr Trump groped her at Mar-A-Lago in 2013 AP Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Rachel Crooks Crooks says that kissed her on the cheeks and mouth when she introduced herself to him in 2005 Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Mindy McGillivray McGillivray claims that Trump grabbed her backside at Mar-a-Lago in 2006 CNN Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Cassandra Searles The former Miss Washington alleges that Trump repeatedly grabbed her backside and invited her to his hotel room Getty Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Jessica Drake Drake claims that when she and two other women arrived to Trump's hotel room at his invitation, he arrived at the door in pyjamas and tightly hugged and kissed each of the woman without permission Getty Every woman to make sexual assault claims against Donald Trump Ninni Laaksonen The former Miss Finland claims that Trump squeezed her behind before they appeared together on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2006 EPA

Following the reports, a spokesperson for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations told The Independent there were “tremendous levels of fear given the anti-Muslim rhetoric we have seen from Donald Trump during this campaign”.

“This rhetoric is nothing new,” he added. “What is new is how far he has gone with it. That is the shocking thing.”