POLICE are monitoring far-right organisers' attempts to build a “street army” in Scotland, a leading human rights lawyer has said.
Aamer Anwar – whose legal company is the subject of the BBC series The Firm – made the claim at a conference in Glasgow called in response to the increase in far-right disorder and demonstrations across Scotland in recent months.
On June 9, following a racist pogrom in Belfast, a far-right-backed demonstration in Glasgow led to violent scenes during which police reported innocent bystanders attacked based on the colour of their skin.
On July 25, 15 arrests were made – including for assault and possession of offensive weapons – after a neo-Nazi-backed “Unite the Clans” rally on Glasgow Green turned violent. Police have since warned those throwing Nazi salutes at the demonstration to expect arrest.
That event came one day after the “Alba Defensor” group staged a fascist-style drill square outside the Daily Record offices in Glasgow, following similar demonstrations elsewhere in the city and outside the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh.
Professor Thomas Weber, an expert on the rise of fascism in Europe, previously told The National that the demonstrations had “eerie echoes” of the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Weber also said that a source within the security services had told him the organisers of the far-right demonstrations in Scotland were being monitored.
Now, Anwar has made a similar claim, telling press on Wednesday: “I know that the police are looking at intelligence, looking at what's happening with the linking of these groups as they try to build a street army.”
He went on: “That's really what they're trying to do. They're wanting to go back to the 70s, trying to build foot soldiers, a street army, and linking up all various groups and organisations.
“That's why it's been so terrifying for many people, because it seems to have gone from 10 to 20, and all of a sudden hundreds.
“But the reality of course is they may well try and organise 200, 500. We have always managed to outnumber them by thousands, and we will continue to do so.”
Talat Yaqoob, from Women Against the Far-Right Scotland, said that the situation had become an “emergency”.
“In recent months we have had a hijab-wearing woman attacked in Glasgow, we've had a knife attack in Edinburgh where the attacker shouted that he was saving the nation from Muslims, we've had an Asian man wrongfully accused and harassed in a public park while he played with his children,” she said.
“We've had black and Asian taxi drivers and food delivery workers racially and physically abused and told to go back to where we come from. We have had asylum seekers targeted and verbally abused. We have had mosques attacked. We have had frontline charity workers harassed for having the audacity of specifically supporting communities of colour, asylum seekers, or migrants.
“This is the terrorising of communities.
“How far does this need to go before it's called an emergency, and responded to as an emergency by the Scottish Government, by local councils, and by policing?”
Mohammed Asif, a former asylum seeker who now works with the Afghan Human Rights Foundation, said that the number of hate incidents reported to the police or in the media were a “drop in the ocean” compared to the reality.
Asif said one asylum seeker he works with had been chased by a man “with a big knife” a few days ago, but he was afraid to report it to the police.
“There are many, many cases which went or go unreported,” he said. “What you see is just a drop in the ocean.”
Roz Foyer, the general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), Scotland's largest trade union body, said that “certain Reform politicians” had been “promoting vigilante-style walkabouts in our city”, which she called “utterly despicable and irresponsible”.
“They are causing real harm to people,” she said. “We are seeing violence breaking out on our streets. We don't need to wait for somebody to get really hurt. It is happening and it is unacceptable.”
Thomas Kerr, the deputy leader of Reform UK in Scotland, has accepted an invitation to join one vigilante group – “Scots Active” – on a walk through Glasgow. Audrey Dempsey, a Reform councillor in the city, has advised the same group.
As The National previously reported, Knights Templar International (KTI) – a far-right organisation run by Britain First co-founder Jim Dowson – will be funding Scots Active and other groups, providing them with stab vests, bodycams, and high-visibility security jackets, raising concerns about “impersonating police officers”.
Kerr and Reform UK were raised by multiple campaigners at the conference on Wednesday, including Anwar, who called out the MSP for having “criticised a lack of invite for Reform to this press conference”.
“I’m not sure what planet this man is on,” the lawyer said. “Let me be clear, those that attend far-right events, join in vigilante patrols, thrive off disinformation and hatred against immigrants, will not be invited to a press conference such as this.”
Responding, Kerr claimed that Anwar was guilty of “hypocrisy”.
“I’ll continue to fight for those forgotten by Anwar as his lefty lackeys whisper into his ear,” the Reform MSP said. “Aamer Anwar’s commitment to describing communities coming together to take a stand against sexual violence and allowing deviants to remain in their communities as ‘far right’ is bordering on impressive.”
Anwar said that the Reform-backed groups had not offered “any concrete proposals” on how to protect women and children – which they claim is a key aim of their demonstrations.
Putting forward his own, the lawyer said: “Where is the lighting for alleyways, free nighttime transport for women, deploying of night street wardens, gates in alleys at nighttime, street cameras for each city centre alley way – simple concrete steps, for starters, to protect women?”
