AN extremist Unionist campaigner known for denying aspects of the Holocaust was leading an anti-republican demonstration at King Charles’s ceremony in the Scottish capital.
Alistair McConnachie, who has stated that he does not believe the Nazis killed any Jewish people in gas chambers and that eyewitness testimony to the contrary is “false”, was heard clashing with anti-monarchist protesters outside St Giles on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.
The monarch is to receive the Honours of Scotland – a crown, a sceptre, and a newly forged sword – in a “mini coronation” in the Scottish cathedral on Wednesday.
Ahead of the event, campaigners from Republic and Our Republic organised demonstrations in protest on both the Royal Mile and at the Scottish Parliament.
Early in the day, as people began slowly arriving to watch the royal event, the designated protest area outside St Giles was a hive of activity.
There were far more republican campaigners, including from the group Salvo, than those opposing them. The opposition camp was led by McConnachie and waving signs that read “Charles King of Scots”.
McConnachie was shouting at the republican campaigners, accusing them of having inappropriately come up from England to tell “the Scots what to think” about the monarchy.
“They don’t have a right to come up here from London,” he said.
Protesters shout “not my king” outside St. Giles Cathedral, ahead of today’s ceremonies. Counter demonstrators shout “god save the king” and “Charles King of Scots”. #HeartNews pic.twitter.com/16aFwtkIrX
— Heart Scotland News (@HeartScotNews) July 5, 2023
Asked how his assertion that campaigners from south of the Border should not be in Edinburgh fit with his Unionist views, McConnachie repeatedly mocked this reporter’s English accent.
“Ooooh noooo, I knoooow,” he whined in a faux imitation of an English voice, finishing when pushed: “I’m very happy for it [the UK] not to include you.”
Asked if he stood by his denial of the Holocaust, McConnachie presented an incoherent position.
The Unionist campaigner insisted that he was not a Holocaust denier, but stood by his assertion that “gas chambers [were not] used to execute Jews” – and that eyewitness accounts of it happening had been “revealed as false or exaggerated”.
After saying he had “never” denied the Holocaust, this reporter read his above words back to him.
Asked if those words, reported by the Guardian in 2001, still represented his position, McConnachie said they did.
He went on: “I’m not a Holocaust denier. That’s not Holocaut denial … that’s a different matter I think. I’ve been very clear on that. I’ve been very clear on my position on that.”
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition says that Holocaust denial encompasses "publicly denying or calling into doubt the use of principal mechanisms of destruction (such as gas chambers...)".
Asked if both standing by his statements and claiming not to be denying the Holocaust was “incoherent”, McConnachie said it was not.
Asked if he would like to explain his position on the Holocaust to the German TV cameras that he had been attempting to talk to, McConnachie said: “No, I’m not here to tell anybody anything, I’m here to do this.
While there is a bit of a crowd outside St Giles' Cathedral, there is no battle for room further down the Royal Mile for the King's 'mini-coronation'👀 pic.twitter.com/hYh2mTAVFR
— The National (@ScotNational) July 5, 2023
“And what you should do sir is maybe you should look into history and work things out for yourself instead of just promoting false news all the time. You should do that.
“I’m talking about history and I think you need to look at it, I think you need to look at a lot.”
McConnachie then shut down the interview, saying: “You don’t deserve an answer but you’ve got an answer, just run along. I’m not answering any more of your questions … God Save the King, God Save the King!”
McConnachie is known for founding a “Force for Good”, a pro-Union campaign group.
He also founded a political party named “Independent Green Voice” that, while it failed to win any MSPs at the 2021 Holyrood elections, was credited by some with robbing the Greens of extra seats due to its presentation on the ballot.
