{"id":404430,"date":"2025-09-07T05:05:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T05:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/404430\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T05:05:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T05:05:28","slug":"scottish-independence-rally-drowns-out-racist-protest-in-edinburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/404430\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish independence rally drowns out ‘racist’ protest in Edinburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Some 75 people turned out at the \u201cEnough is Enough\u201d anti-immigration rally organised by the fringe Unionist group a Force for Good \u2013 led by the Holocaust denier Alistair McConnachie<\/a> \u2013 in Edinburgh<\/a> on Saturday afternoon.\n<\/p>\n

\n They were met by around 300 people who had answered a call from Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) to oppose the core message of the demonstration: against \u201casylum frauds\u201d and irregular immigration \u2013 such as small boat crossings.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Campaigners at the SUTR counter-protest (left), and the ‘Enough is Enough’ anti-immigration demo (Image: PA) The sides traded insults \u2013 with SUTR campaigners shouting allegations of racism and fascism met by calls of \u201cscum\u201d and \u201cgo home\u201d \u2013 before speakers at the Unionist rally took the stage, largely overshadowed by a sound-system brought by Cabaret Against Hate Speech on the opposing side.\n<\/p>\n

\n The arrival of the Yes Bikers at 12:30 \u2013 the same time as the anti-immigration rally was due to begin \u2013 essentially put a temporary halt on proceedings as the roars of the engines drowned out both sides.\n<\/p>\n

\n Around 30 minutes later, the main core of the All Under One Banner (AUOB) Scottish independence march arrived at the Scottish Parliament, having proceeded down the Royal Mile from Johnston Terrace.\n<\/p>\n

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\n Thousands of people taking part in a Scottish independence march have arrived at Holyrood \ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc73\udb40\udc63\udb40\udc74\udb40\udc7f<\/p>\n

The march has drowned out a far-right protest after organisers urged people taking part to wave their Saltires in a show against the \u201cperversion\u201d of the flag \ud83d\udc47 pic.twitter.com\/HtdbBFqpVX<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\u2014 The National (@ScotNational) September 6, 2025<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n The largest Scottish independence march for some time, around 2500-3000 people waving Saltires and Yes flags, playing bagpipes and banging drums, completely drowned out the anti-immigration protest.\n<\/p>\n

\n AUOB had said, in a call to join their Edinburgh rally, that they would be demonstrating against the \u201cperverted and inverted\u201d use of the Scottish Saltire by anti-refugee groups<\/a>, such as protesters at the Force for Good rally, as well as calling for the Scottish people to have the right to decide their own future.\n<\/p>\n

\n An AUOB-organised march down the Royal Mile saw Yes supporters call for Scotland to have a right to decide its future, as well as oppose the use of the Saltire by anti-immigration groups (Image: Gordon Terris) Speaking from the rally, SUTR campaigner Rania Obead said she believed the \u201cEnough is Enough\u201d rally represented a \u201cmovement of the far right [that] is really building in the whole country\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think what is going on now is actually really, really fed by the [UK] Government, fed by the media, fed by a lot of misinformation about refugees, Muslims, people coming to this country,\u201d Obead, a former asylum seeker from Sudan who now works in Scottish higher education, said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe need to say these people are really enriching our country. These people come with their culture, with their education, with their skills, and they come here to build. We need them.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE:\u00a0This inspiring 19-year-old refugee is advising the Scottish Government<\/a><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cBut when I see the Labour government saying the same thing \u2013 they need to stop refugees, they need to stop small boats \u2013 the top of our society is actually building these things, they really boost the far right movement.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Obead said she had seen a banner at a different anti-immigration rally which read \u201cKill \u2018em all\u201d, as The National previously reported Police Scotland is investigating<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhen I read this, I think he’s targeting me personally and people like me \u2013 because he is saying kill people like me,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat inhumanity makes someone think like that?\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Rania Obead\u00a0said the UK Government was giving the far right a ‘boost’\u00a0(Image: NQ) Jamie, another SUTR campaigner, also said he believed the UK Government<\/a> was \u201cchasing the far right\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cKeir Starmer<\/a>, his Island of Strangers speech was nothing other than capitulations to what the racists are saying,\u201d Jamie said. \u201cAs the government and the mainstream media continue to shift to the right, it’s just giving validation to these groups who feel they now have the right to assemble and build racism and fascism on our streets.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Protesters on the \u201cEnough is Enough\u201d side, such as a Force for Good\u2019s Mark Donald, denied being racist. Donald showed an image of himself with black friends as proof that he is only opposed to \u201cillegal immigrants\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Asked how he could tell the difference, Donald said: \u201cIf they come in a boat they\u2019re an illegal immigrant. If they come via a plane, [they\u2019re not].\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Mark Donald (in red) taking part in the anti-immigration protest organised by a Force for Good\u00a0(Image: PA) McConnachie also denied the \u201cracist\u201d and \u201cfascist\u201d accusations. He used his speech to accuse the SUTR campaigners of slinging insults, claiming that his allies would not stoop to that level.\n<\/p>\n

\n Minutes earlier, in an exchange caught on video by The National, McConnachie had to step in to stop a woman wearing a Force for Good shirt from shouting and making obscene gestures at SUTR activists after she was spoken to by police.\n<\/p>\n

\n Asked about the allegations of racism, McConnachie said: \u201cWe don’t rise to that. We ignore it. It’s old hat.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Asked what message he wanted to send and to whom, McConnachie said: \u201cThe message that we’re trying to send and the reason why we’re holding it outside the Scottish Parliament is because we want to tell the people in that building, the MSPs, the people who have got the power, that mass immigration and fraudulent asylum seeking into Scotland is far too high.\u201d\n<\/p>\n