Just 90 EDL w*****s opposed by 2,000 Antifa in Edinburgh...

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8525939.stm

From what I heard off people on the ground it was 3-500 people on the counter demo. You can't count the Scotland United bollocks as it wasn't anywhere near them.

To me it looked like 2500 anti-SLD protesters, counting both the Scotland United march and the ones outside the pub. The ones outside the pub seemed to be student and Anti-Fascist League led. They left of from the Mound before Scotland United stuff got underway- around 11.30. They marched down the Royal Mile but most only got as far as South Bridge. There was perhaps 400 of them in total. I didn't see well but I think around 100 got to the pub- some by being quick passed the police, others seemed to get round the other side of the police block by walking round parliament. The rest were surrounded by the police and encouraged to go back to the Gardens to join Scotland United. They instead went of towards North Bridge- I'm not sure where they went but they ended up in the Gardens by 12.30- they were welcomed with a cheer and the rally got underway.

The police were very reasonable with all anti-SDL protesters- many had smiles on their faces. They allowed the protesters to March down the Royal Mile, they seemed a little thrown at first because they had no idea where the protesters were going. But as they already had more than enough police down the Royal Mile dealing with what I'm told was less than 100 SLD members (many of whom were shipped in from England) so it wasn't a problem for them to stop the march and re-direct it. But they never caged in the protesters too much to be intimidating. They then allowed the march to go off up North Bridge but that's the last I saw

So 3-500 was about right then seeing as you couldn't say the Scotland United thing had any intention of confronting the SDL.

Also, I don't think it's fair to give Scotland United a hard time. They just have a different approach. I see them as more taking things on a political level (in a capital P Politics sense) while the others were more covering the stopping the SDL controlling the streets aspect. They are complimenting goals.

From what I know they were well engaged with the police so were very confident the SDL were going nowhere so didn't need confronting. Regardless, they had people out watching what was going on so not to get caught off guard. But I think it was very important to have an official rally as well which was safe for all the family. For one it's very important to keep the support of the Mosques, they're not going to support their people getting into confrontation. It's also important to have a show of political unity from across the spectrum.

But Scotland United, Bennet and Anwar particularly, tried to prevent the Anti Fascists from heading to Jenny Ha's where the DL types were. Claiming first that the SDL weren't there, a lie, then that the SDL were at Haymarket - the complete opposite side of the city, another lie and finaly that 150 fash were going to attack the Scotland United event, yet another lie.
These actions are counter productive and potentially dangerous had they lessened the numbers going to confront the SDL.

I'm not going to defend lying- especially when I wasn't there so don't know the whole story. All I heard was a Scotland United person shouting something to the effect of the SDL have been refused the right to march so there's no point going.

But even if they were lying with nothing but bad intentions, the actions of two people shouldn't condemn the whole effort of Scotland United. I liked that there was little kids, old people, torries, communists, muslims, christians- and plenty more- doing what they felt they could do to say 'fuck off' to the SDL. It's quite sad to see such divisions arising really. You seem to prefer confrontation but that's not for everyone- whether they don't feel up to it, they politically object to it or they don't think it works. That's their choice and there is still plenty space for the contributions of people who don't want confrontation. Personally, I respect both as valid methods of dealing with two very closely link but different issues.

Lessons from Glasgow

After much anticipation and preparation, today was the day of the [English] Scottish Defence League’s second outing. They had first appeared in Glasgow last November, with a generous estimate of 80 turning up to find themselves outnumbered by about 50 to 1, consequently finding themselves kettled in a pub by the police for their own safety.

There were two main lessons that people came away with from that encounter. First, that it had been a great victory for the anti-fascist movement, providing the confidence necessary to organise in future. And second, that there was a split in the movement over tactics. Broadly there appeared two groups: one led by the UAF/SWP under the banner of Scotland United, which favoured a parallel rally, hosting speakers from the Tories, SNP, Church of Scotland and others, and to that end actively opposed any idea of direct confrontation with the SDL. And one led by a range of activists from the SSP, anarchist groups, student groups and others (including, it must be said, individuals from UAF/SWP), which favoured direct confrontation via a march on the SDL position wherever it may turn out to be.

Fortunately and unfortunately respectively, these will once again be the two main lessons that people come away with from today’s encounter.

Preparation and March

Almost immediately after Glasgow there were rumours that Edinburgh would be the next destination, and so the Edinburgh Anti-Fascist Alliance (EAFA) was established to organise those preferring the tactic of confrontation.

Needless to say that plenty of anti-fascist/anti-racist posters went up around the city from both the EAFA and the UAF, as well as many city-centre shops carrying leaflets on their counters. Indeed, such was the saturation that it led a Conservative councillor to complain that anti-fascism has become a “polarising influence” — Tories on the ball as always!

Each group, of course, was advertising its own event. The UAF/SWP rally was to occur at 11.30am and march through the city centre, while the EAFA organised to meet at 9.30am before heading wherever the SDL turned up. Coincidentally, the UAF/SWP decided to start advertising for students to gather at 10am instead, just down the road from where the EAFA were meeting.

This proved to be a mistake on their part, as the EAFA decided to join up with this group at around 10.20am while they waited for news on the SDL’s arrival. This turned, consciously or otherwise, into an entryist manoeuvre, as they soon got news of the SDL’s location and marched off with the entire group in tow.

This is where the UAF/SWP’s role became a damaging rather than a building one. Having failed to stop the entire group marching off, they set themselves up further down the road with a loud-speaker to try and convince as many people as possible into staying with them. While this first attempt failed entirely to halt the enthusiastic crowd it did succeed in sowing the seeds of confusion in the majority who were not there with a group, but rather as a response to the posters, media coverage and word of mouth.

Having heard (accurately) that the bulk of SDL members seemed to be having a morning drink near Holyrood Parliament, the march entered the Royal Mile, where the police quickly mobilised to prevent any advance.

This is where the battle of the two groups commenced, as the UAF/SWP sought to take advantage of the police lines and confusion to peel people back to their rally, while the EAFA and others sought to find a side-street past the police lines. Throw into this a sighting of SDL members in the Bank Hotel — a pub right in the centre of the march (the building in the above photo) — and misinformation being introduced about where the SDL were and what was happening by prominent UAF members, and it isn’t difficult to imagine that things were getting a little chaotic. Eventually the sizeable EAFA group found their side street — barging past a single hapless police officer, who must have been unfamiliar with the story of King Canute — and took the bulk of the protesters with them. However, it was noticeable that with two factions competing for loyalty, many unaligned protesters simply gave up and drifted off, weakening both.

Kettling the SDL

Despite the commotion a significant group moved forward with the EAFA and eventually reached the pub hosting the SDL — about 80 of them in total. At this point, echoing the scenes of Glasgow, the counter-protesters trapped the SDL in their pub. Now it just became a question of the police holding their ground until buses arrived to remove the SDL from the area. This took some hours, with increasing numbers of police flooding into the area and drones flying overhead, but eventually it happened and the SDL piled onto their buses — though not before they had all their details and photos taken.

There can be little doubt that the day was a success for the EAFA. Their spotters found the SDL early and the EAFA led a significant group to trap them in a relatively out-of-the-way pub before they could meet up or hold their rally. Other SDL members found themselves confronted by break-away groups of protesters and escorted or kettled by police — reports of which arrived from both the train station and 20 minutes away at the Grassmarket. This will hopefully set the SDL back and discourage any future rallies in Scotland, as well as establish the organisation necessary in Edinburgh to engage in future events.

It is only a shame that a rather grotesque public factional fight cost some of the momentum along the way. It must surely be seen as imperative to sort this situation out beforehand if the SDL return, with an acceptance that while the UAF’s passive rally is a good way to involve those who wouldn’t want to be involved in an EAFA-type strategy, it shouldn’t be pursued at the expense of those who are willing to carry out the important work of direct confrontation — and certainly not at the expense of a march which is already on its way.

I agree with your point that confrontation isn't for everyone, but no-ones saying that it is. I also think it was great that there was a child friendly safe place for people to have speeches, but thats not what the UAF were doing on the royal mile. That wasnt their demo. It was the Antifascist Alliance demo, and they were trying to hijack it. Diversity of tactics is THE only tactic. Trying to force people from other groups, with the help of the cops, to come and stand in a park and listen to boring speeches is not fighting fascism. Bennet and Anwar did their best to sabotage the antifascist movement today for their own political benefit, and this time it didn't work.

How many times Bennet & co. need to pull their trick of hijacking or trying to hijack antifascists protests, collaborating with pigs, lying to people and actively avoiding being anywhere actual fash for people to recognize those cunts as PART OF THE PROBLEM and dealing with them accordingly?
If you are part of UAF and yo uare serious about anti-fascism , then it is time to leave!

I think it might sound like I'm blindly defending UAF- I'm not, lying ect. isn't alright. But I do think there's a definite EAFA biased here.

I knew who EAFA well before the march but a lot of people didn't- plenty people who are just casually involved have only heard of UAF/Scotland United. EAFA facebook event did cause me a little concern- though I will say I'm not sure if they were directly made by EAFA but other groups/individuals planning on joining EAFA. They didn't make their intentions clear- I know many people who joined them who didn't know they were with a separate group from United Scotland and that they were with a group aiming for confrontation. I think this was worsened by United Scotland deciding to have flyering on the Mound and hence more people getting confused in.

When the march set off from the Mound, I was there. I didn't quite click who was leading the march at first or what was going on- and I know a lot of what goes on so it must have been harder for others. I didn't hearUAF people shouting, I didn't hear what was said by EAFA oer the mega phone before we set off. That's dangerous too.

Really none of these things need to be happening, it needs to be sorted. Especially before elections start, it could really hard the anti-fascist movement in Edinburgh. Neither groups were in perfect conduct but they need to find away to put ego aside and stop acting like they have some sort of competition going on. Personally, I have no time for these games and will be taking a step back from the movement until a time when I don't feel my loyalties are competing. I still march, flyer ect. but I won't be involved in any sort of planning type stuff.

Fabbri, I didn't meant to imply I thought people were saying confrontation is he only way. I think it just seems stick which should be given to a handful of people is being somewhat put on non-confrontation as a whole. Individuals might need dealt with but United Scotland is more than these individuals, regardless of how much influence they have. I don't want to see the good work United Scotland/UAF do do tarred by those individuals, even if they were letting their side down.