Unity Statement issued by Borders & Berwick Against Fascism gathers support from across the UK - Union Leaders, MPs, MSP, Local Councillor, Student Leaders, Unite, RMT

including Owen Jones, writer and journalist

Statement

We the undersigned strongly oppose the proposed march in Berwick upon Tweed on the 16th February 2013 by the racist groups of the Scottish Defence League and the English North West and North East Infidels. 

The SDL is a racist organisation with an established record of mounting protests which regularly feature racist chanting, placards and Nazi salutes. At their recent demonstration in Edinburgh this year, the SDL held placards of the ‘Swastika’ emblem of the openly racist and Nazi Greek party, ‘Golden Dawn’. The SDL’s sister group, the English Defence League, has a record of attacking meetings of unions, and students. Both organisations and their members had sympathetic contact with Norwegian mass murderer Anders Brievik and expressed their support for his ideas after his sentencing.

As their last effort in Berwick showed they bring in members and sympathisers from elsewhere with an intention to promote racial hatred. In particular, we find it abhorrent that such a message of hostility and Islamaphobic scapegoating should be allowed to be paraded though our town. Berwick is a welcoming town with good community relations. We object to the SDL's attempts to disrupt the good community relations in Berwick and to spread racial hatred. Please join our counter demonstration on the 16th of February.

Initiated by Borders and Berwick Against Fascism.