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Katy Highet, Lecturer in English Language & TESOL, University of the West of Scotland

English classes are being targeted by anti-immigration protesters – but they’ve been politicised for years

New Africa/Shutterstock

Just as the protests outside asylum hotels of summer 2025 faded from headlines, some anti-immigration groups turned their attention to another target: English classes.

On November 24, a protest was organised outside a primary school in Glasgow, in opposition to an Esol (English for speakers of other languages) class being delivered for parents of children at the school. Holding placards reading “protect our kids”, protesters claimed that these classes presented a danger to children at the school.

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