Anti-Fascist Organisation Defeats the Far-Right in Glasgow
This was supposed to be the biggest gathering of the far-right in Scotland for years. It had been carefully orchestrated. Speakers from neo-nazi groups Patriotic Alternative and Homeland Party addressed the crowd, as did Reform UK councillor Audrey Dempsey. Sharing a platform with Nazis is never a good look. But with questions about policing in Glasgow ongoing the anti-fascist forces far outnumbered the far-right. Harvey Duke reports for Bella.
The day began cold and wet at Glasgow Green. On grass near McLennan Arch, a handful of far-Right activists, including Richard McFarlane, a leader of neo-Nazi group Patriotic Alternative, were putting up banners he had painted himself. They included the slogans: ‘White Lives Matter’ and ‘White Unity Every Opportunity’. It was 10.30am, on Saturday 25th July, the day when far Right groups from across Britain had advertised the biggest ‘patriotic rally’ Scotland had ever seen. It was almost exactly one year since fascist leader of UKIP Nick Tenconi promised a similar result and ended up chased out of the centre of Glasgow by anti- fascists. He and his small group of men with large wooden crosses were forced to hold their rally in a graveyard.
Comical as many of the modern wannabe Fuhrers often appear, we have become acutely aware in Scotland of how dangerous they can be. Rioting and attacking minorities in Glasgow and Arbroath, and terrorising asylum seekers across Scotland are not battle honours to be proud of. And, as we saw on one of their banners in Falkirk last August, the depth of their hatred is all too real. That banner read: ‘Kill em All’, displayed outside the hotel housing asylum seekers.
Whilst the far Right put up their banners, a few lines of police in high-vis jackets begin to assemble between the far Right and the fast-growing crowd of anti-racists. From early to the end of the event, there was a very clear difference in gender balance between the opposing sides. The far-Right crowd were overwhelmingly male. The anti-racists were evenly mixed men and women, and diverse in ages and cultures.
A glance at the posters advertising demo and counter demo also revealed the nature of the division. The counter protest, organised by Stand Up to Racism, was supported by the STUC, Unison Scotland, the UCU, FBU, Refuweegee, Scottish Refugee Council, RMT, PCS, Rape Crisis Scotland, and other anti-racist groups. In summary, groups represented on the day encompass tens of thousands of working-class people, including minorities, in Scotland. The far-Right rally, in a huge contrast, was supported by tiny fascist groups like Patriotic Alternative, Homeland Party, and anti-asylum groups like Unite the Clans, formerly Aberdeen Against Illegal Immigration. They have an artificially inflated presence online. Several very small, racist vigilante gangs also added their names. Shockingly, Audrey Dempsey, a Reform UK councillor from Springburn was also an invited guest.
The far Right have made cynical use of community pain after horrific attacks on women, trying to turn the serious issue of violence against women into an issue of race. When the far Right cannot find a real attack to exploit, they make up stories, and they targeted an innocent young dad and falsely claimed he was a paedophile, a lie amplified many times on social media. Would the earlier demos across housing schemes, despite the lies, result in crowds descending on Glasgow Green?
The day did not turn out the way the far Right hoped. A group of around 500 people, mostly men, came to their rally, but there was no mass turn out from the targeted Glasgow housing schemes. Instead, it was overwhelmingly a mix of known anti-asylum figures from across Scotland, Rangers football casuals and two men in Celtic tops, and masked racist vigilantes who were clearly there to fight. They screamed abuse from early in the day, and by mid-day, eggs and bottles had been thrown from the far-Right crowd. The first large incident involved several masked men trying to climb over railings at the top of the park, to attack Celtic fans who were joining the anti-racist side of the demo. Dozens of Seig Heil salutes were on display, and shouts of ‘Send Them Home’, ‘Paedos’ and ‘Ye cannae trust a Lefty with your kids’ were repeated over and over, exactly as they have been in over 100 anti-asylum protests during the last year – in Glasgow itself, Dundee, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Aberdeen, Perth, Peterhead, Arbroath, and Brechin.
The counter-protest quickly grew to around 4000 people. The mood of that side was in stark contrast to the anger within the far-Right space. In a long line stretching from the top corner to a gate near the bottom of the park, anti-racist men and women, young and elderly, chanted: ‘There are many, many more us than you’ and sang and laughed at the absurd appearance of several of the angry men on the grass. One man dressed in an ancient warrior costume was the cause of much of the laughing. A strutting bodybuilder who kept flexing his muscles looked confused when people laughed at him. As the day progressed, and it became clear that the far-Right rally was a flop and Scotland had shown its anti-fascist nature in its full glory, the mood on the anti-racist side soared. Even the returning sunlight seemed to be on the anti-racist side, as far-Right men lurked in the shadows beneath large trees in their corner of the park.
Soon, there were a few big dents to the mood of anti-racist side, although overall it remained positive. First, a large group of far-Right thugs tried to attack the lower part of the anti-racist demo. A relatively small group of anti-fascists were the first to act in self-defence, trying to stop the attack. It became necessary for the group to fall back to the main demo where a defensive line was formed, but by then police on horses had dispersed those involved in the attack. Sadly, the far Right would go on to threaten the nearby Mosque and then riot in the centre of Glasgow. These horrible scenes in no way represent the sentiments of the majority of Scotland.
The counter-protest ended with good speeches by veterans of previous struggles, including Aamer Anwar, and the overall message was clear: the urgent need to make Scotland’s streets safe for all is a battle which must continue.
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A concern I have is how BBC Scotland reported this.
The framing was of two sides, who by implication, are equally baleful. There was little nuance in the reporting. By using vague words like ‘hundreds’ the reporting implies a numerical equality and makes no attempt at a semblance of quantitative accuracy.
We see this in the reporting of violence during, but more often, before and after matches between Celtic and Rangers. The premise is that ‘both sides are equally bad’. There is seldom any attempt to distinguish between the histories and motivations on each side. To spell out these differences (and some, but only a few, similarities) is not being ‘impartial’; it is a failure of journalism.
Unfortunately our newspapers and TV push the racist agenda while the actions of those against go unreported. There are an assortment of people that perpetrate horrific crimes but the pictures we see are dark skinned and reports of “Grooming gangs” are all portrayed as Pakistani. We have more than enough home grown paedophiles but we seldom hear if them.
What a total misrepresentation, what absolute garbage, what about the Antifa idiots chanting death to the far right, so if we don’t agree with your views we are somehow far right fascists ? what an absolute clown? Really what an absolute moron you are, so rent a protestor and antifa who are all bussed in by police, turn up start all sorts of violence knowing the police won’t touch them as the police are in on it, and just a private political army. How can you be so stupid as to fall for this theatre, its all organised, by Antifa and the George Soros rent a protestor who turn up to start trouble, what about the hundreds of ordinary people who don’t agree with the flooding the country with undocumented and unknown economic migrants as part of a larger George Soros globalist plan to destroy society. I can’t believe you are so stupid. There was idiots on both side that’s the globalist plan you muppet. But what about all the decent people who are genuinely concerned for their safety and the safety of their children, what a clown.
Dearie me, you’re getting your knickers in a twist about your allegations of “rent a protestor and antifa bussed in by police”! What a load of utter codswallop!
Firstly “antifa” is not an organisation, it’s people who are “anti-fascist”, you know, just like your family members who no doubt fought in WW2 against fascism? You do know that, don’t you?
And why would you think the Police would bus anyone in? The only “bussed in” folk were the gang who came up from England, down from Aberdeen etc to cause a violent disturbance on the side of the far right!
Thanks for the write-up. Clearly the fascists were outnumbered this time which is welcome. However, the police seemed so focused on keeping the “two sides” apart at the Green that they let 50-100 break off from the far-right pen and march through the city centre, making it as far as Tradeston, intimidating anyone they didn’t like the look of. There is a video going around of a delivery cyclist having a road cone hurled at him, among other incidents. They were eventually kettled on Oswald Street when the police finally caught up with them in sufficient numbers.
The anti-fascist response to this was poorly organised at best – no one really knew what was going on. People did begin to leave in large numbers, crossing the river, but most turned back as soon as they were instructed to by the SUTR stewards (“there are still fascists in the park, let’s focus on them!”).