Around 100 men sporting all-black clothes stood in a fascist-style “drill square” before Edinburgh Castle on Friday, October 23.
The rally took place on October 23 and was organised by the far-right group Alba Defensor, which has staged a spate of similar spectacles across Glasgow and Edinburgh in recent months.
In an 11-minute black and white video posted on X, crowds of men in black jackets and hoods can be seen walking up to the castle, before standing in organised rows beneath the rain. To the background music of marching drums and female voices, men hold a banner reading, “We have a duty to protect our children & defend our homeland.”
“Is this the beginning or the end?” the video’s text questions.
One student, who saw the crowd, said: “It’s just really grim that this kind of bigoted intimidation is coming to Edinburgh. I felt angry that this could even happen here really—in the middle of the city.”
Chris Murray, MP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, told The National he was “horrified” by the scenes which unfolded.
Lorna Slater, MSP for Edinburgh Central, also criticised the rally: “Far-right groups like these are trying to intimidate our communities, stoke fear and spread racist, anti-migrant hatred. They have no place in Edinburgh or anywhere in Scotland.”
In a press statement, Police Scotland said they had engaged with the protestors, and no arrests had been made.
“People have the right to express their views lawfully and to protest peacefully. Whilst we balance and help facilitate those rights, our priority will always be public safety,” Police Scotland told The National.
The far-right rally comes amidst a rise of fascist-aligned groups mobilising around Scotland.
On Friday October 30, The Ferret revealed a “Scots neo-Nazi fight club” welcomed a far-right Canadian activist who had reportedly described the Holocaust as “hilarious,” threatened to rape a politician’s wife, and founded an “extremist, militia-like” group.
Photo by Jörg Angeli on Unsplash.
