A FAR-RIGHT group has been banned from a popular fundraising website after their attempts to raise money were exposed by the Sunday National.
The National Defence League, a British nationalist group who have shared conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 pandemic, have been banned from GoFundMe after this paper confronted the crowdfunding website about a bid to collect cash from supporters.
No donations were made to the group before it was closed by the website, and it is no longer allowed to set up pages.
The National Defence League was set up from the ruins of the Scottish Defence League and the organisation mobilised groups to “defend” statues in Glasgow’s George Square in 2020, which resulted in ugly confrontations with asylum seekers and refugee rights activists.
Hope Not Hate, a specialist charity which investigates and monitors the far-right has previously accused the group – which said it was based in New Stevenson, near Motherwell – of “hardline racism”.
Before it was wiped from the internet, the fundraiser asked for cash to help the group in what they called their battle against the “NWO Beast System”.
The fundraiser description, which was posted in all capital letters, said the “New World Order” were using “energy weapons ... biomedical implants” and “ultra-sonic … infrasonic sound … and light technologies” as weapons against UK and international citizens.
The fundraiser was shared by a Facebook page, which remains live, called Defending The Red, White & Blue, which has shared conspiracies about Covid vaccines and claims to be part of the National Defence League.
In response to a query from a follower of the page about where the money would go, the admin – whose identity is not known – said it would be spent on supporting “homeless veterans” and “our local community’s [sic] / people”.
Despite making a number of posts in support of the Armed Forces, the fundraiser also claims that the “very same enforcement agencies who have sworn to protect and serve our country and citizens are but some of the corrupt, greedy traitors engaged in …tyranny and torture”.
They added that the group had been “working hard behind the scenes and have plans to build a bigger and stronger organisation that fights against the corrupt system”.
The group uses an alternative form of the Union flag as its emblem, which does not feature the Northern Irish red saltire but instead features the Ulster Banner – which merges with the St George cross representing England, the Welsh dragon and the Scottish Saltire.
A social media post in 2020 bore the Frankenstein flag and urged the “Glaswegian public” to assemble in George Square to “protect” the Cenotaph.
At the time, protests were taking place across Britain in response to the Black Lives Matter movement and some statues – most famously Bristol’s monument to the slaver and philanthropist Edward Colston – were damaged.
There was no defacement of statues in Glasgow and it is understood the National Defence League’s action to “protect” statues was organised as a counter-demonstration to an asylum rights protest.
According to a report from the scene, those organised against the No Evictions Network “charged” towards the refugee rights group in clashes which ended in the arrest of six men.
The Defending The Red, White & Blue Facebook page was approached for comment.
