‘This racist attack is exactly what Farage has created with his divisive scapegoating of migrants and refugees’
SUTR marching against Islamophobia in Glasgow earlier this year
Politicians pushing racist lies about Muslims and migrants led to a violent attack in Leith, Edinburgh, on Friday.
A white man attacked five men with a large weapon before being arrested. Campaign group Mend Scotland said that several of the victims were from the Muslim community.
The attacker shouted as he was arrested, “I’m protecting the country from these fucking Muslim bastards raping our young daughters.”
Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) Edinburgh said, “We stand in solidarity with the victims of a racist attack on Leith Walk last night.
“Two men were apprehended at the scene, with footage of one of the men brandishing a large knife circulating widely on social media. The man shouted Islamophobic abuse as he was arrested and claimed he was ‘doing this for his country’.
“Attacks like these are the direct consequence of Nigel Farage’s call for people to respond with ‘pure, cold rage’ to the tragic murder of Henry Nowak.
“Politicians and pundits who pour fuel on the fire of some tragic incidents are strangely quiet now that the perpetrators are white British men.
“Stand Up To Racism stands with the diverse community of Leith in the aftermath of this frightening attack. As one woman shouted from her window following the attack, ‘Leith won’t stand for racism.’.”
Felix, an SUTR activist in Edinburgh, saw the immediate aftermath of the attack. “Since the pogroms in Belfast and the racist riots around Henry Nowak’s murder in Southampton, there’s been a marked shift,” he told Socialist Worker.
Felix and his partner have lived in Leith their entire lives. But recently she was racially abused on her way to work. “This doesn’t normally happen—Leith is a very diverse place,” he said.
“Racists have been emboldened by Nigel Farage calling for ‘pure, cold rage’, weaponising the tragic murder of Henry Nowak to push his racist agenda.
“This racist attack is exactly what Farage has created with his divisive scapegoating of migrants and refugees.”
Felix said that following the attack it’s important to show that “the majority of people in Leith are absolutely appalled by this racism”.
“We just need the anti-racist majority to show that, to show that people are welcome here and people are safe,” he added.
“There needs to be a response like Glasgow saw last Saturday where anti-fascists outnumbered the far right 100 to one.”
Categories: Islamophobia, Racism, Scotland, UK