MORE than 5,000 people rallied in Glasgow’s George Square on Saturday in solidarity with the migrants and refugees increasingly targeted by the far right.

The demonstration came together to counter a call by racist grifter Stephen Yaxley-Lennon — known as Tommy Robinson — for an anti-immigration rabble to assemble in the city; Yaxley-Lennon was nowhere to be seen as his fans faced the humiliation of being outnumbered 15 to one.

To the west of the square, the rally organised by Stand Up to Racism (SUTR), backed by the STUC, and attended by thousands of trade unionists and community activists, heard from a host of speakers from trade unions as well as those with first-hand experience facing racism and building solidarity in their communities.

To the east, at the cenotaph, members of the fascist Patriotic Alternative did their best to rouse their mob, with renditions of Rule Britannia and barely audible hate-filled speeches alternating with the launching of abuse and bottles at anti-fascists.

Eventually escorted from the square by Police Scotland, some of their number went on to attack the nearby McChuills, a bar associated with refugee solidarity, resulting in two arrests. 

But Police Scotland were criticised for “kettling” anti-fascist Celtic ultras the Green Brigade for several hours, preventing them from joining the SUTR rally.

One witness told the Star: “I don’t even support their club but this is a pointless provocation: the Green Brigade have done nothing to justify this, but they’re used to getting singled out.”

SUTR Scotland convener Talat Ahmed said: “Our rally was about celebrating and defending multiculturalism and diversity and saying loud and clear that refugees are welcome here and aren’t to blame for the problems in society.

“After Reform UK, a far-right party, achieved 7 per cent of the vote in Scotland in the general election and the chilling news this week that the AfD, a party with a neonazi wing, had a breakthrough in German state elections, we urge all to unite against the far right, racism, Islamophobia and anti-semitism.”

STUC deputy general secretary Linda Somerville warned that the far right poses a dangerous threat.

She said: “The cruel impacts of austerity, compounded by the drip feed of anti-migrant rhetoric from parts of the media and some politicians has created these conditions.

“Trade unions have a long history of defending our communities against fascists and racists and proudly joined the rally in Glasgow to show racists that they have no place here.”