AN EDINBURGH activist charged with holding an “illegal” demonstration in solidarity with the people of Palestine had his case dismissed at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today.

Willie Black, a veteran of blacklisting in the construction industry in the 1970s and since, who now serves as joint secretary of Trades Unions Into Communities in the city’s Craigmillar estate, was arrested and bundled into a police van at a demonstration against the Gazan genocide on March 23 this year.

A sit-in by fellow campaigners won his release from the van on the day and now his charges have been dismissed.

More than 100 people who had rallied in Mr Black’s support picketed outside the court, including trade unionists from his own Unite construction branch, the RMT, and even reps at arms manufacturer Leonardos, a regular focus of protest.

Speaking to the Star after leaving court, Mr Black said: “It says something when it’s OK to profiteer from the deaths of 30,000 and more civilians, for the UK to keep sending arms, and it’s somehow a step too far to walk down a street and point that out.

“An occupied people have the right to protest and we have the right to back them. But we also need to unite.

“We know how sectarian the left can be, but now is the time to come together.

“Whether its on the cost of living, Palestine, whatever it may be, whatever group we’re in, it’s the same struggle and the powers that be want us to divide and stop speaking up.

“When a scab approaches a picket line, everyone on it puts aside their arguments, their football rivalries and the like and links arms until the scab turns back, and that’s what we need across the left today.”