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POLICE Scotland took more than 17 hours to issue a statement on far-right violence spilling out on the streets of Glasgow, leaving a crucial gap for misinformation to spread.
On Wednesday morning, journalists were left relying solely on information gleaned from social media videos that were spreading like wildfire, particularly on X/Twitter, where far-right agitators are known to spread false information unchecked.
The violence was sparked after a stabbing attack in Belfast, which was leapt on by the far right and those seeking to sow division and spread racial hatred.
Rumours that people of colour had been attacked were only confirmed through the statement from officers, and while a press conference was held at the police training college Tulliallan, in Perthshire, journalists were given only a few hours notice that this was taking place.
Tulliallan is also only accessible by car, unless you fancy a two-hour journey on train, bus and foot, if you were in the Scottish Parliament as I was.
The Police Scotland statement also referred to officers providing a “conventional response”.
The violence we saw in Scotland’s largest city was anything but conventional, let’s be clear, it was driven by racism and hate.
It should also be noted that Police Scotland can release statements pretty fast when it comes to disorder caused by football fans in Glasgow.
First Minister John Swinney held an anti-far right summit in Glasgow last year, and while some experts said at the time it was “too late” and could “backfire badly”, surely there was some sort of conversation about what to do in this exact scenario?
Kate Nevens, the Scottish Greens MSP for Edinburgh and Lothian East, told The National she felt the anti-far right summit felt “quite tick-boxy to me”, adding that it was good that it happened but “there needs to be more following through”.
Noting that this had been clearly “ramping up for some time” and it was not a surprise, Nevens added: “These groups have been waiting and organising to have some kind of event that they can manipulate, and then come out in the streets, and we've been seeing this ramping up, not just in Edinburgh and Glasgow, across Scotland, in Inverness, in Perth, in Falkirk, and yeah, it's been really, really scary what we're seeing in the streets.”
We have known that something like this has been on the cards for a while.
So why such a lacklustre response from the authorities?
The National also contacted the local councils where protests took place, those that we knew of on Wednesday morning; Glasgow City Council, Edinburgh City Council, and South Ayrshire Council.
SNP Glasgow council leader Susan Aitken said: “People are entitled to their views on immigration, but putting masked men on street corners with the intention of targeting minorities is not a protest - and nobody should allow them that veneer of respectability.
“We all know who is stirring up these tensions and we all know the kind of people, often very far from our streets, who are pulling their strings. They are not on the side of our communities.”
South Ayrshire Council said they were “aware of a small number of people taking part in a protest in Ayr”, but that there was no disorder or arrests made.
"We continue to work with partners including Police Scotland to ensure protests are peaceful and do not impact on the wider community,” a spokesperson added.
Edinburgh did not respond.
It should be noted that it was only when the Police Scotland statement arrived that we had confirmation there were further protests in Falkirk, Perth, and Paisley, where there were also no arrests made.
In the Holyrood chamber, Scottish Labour MSP Paul Sweeney raised the issue in an urgent question, calling out MSP Thomas Kerr for urging further “protests” and warned against violence as it would “play into the hands” of Swinney and Keir Starmer.
The National understands that despite calling for people to “make their voice heard”, Kerr himself will not be heading to Buchanan Street on Wednesday evening to join those he had egged on.
The day of the protests, Tuesday, Kerr accused the Scottish Government of “prioritising strangers over Scots” in the Holyrood Chamber.
Justice Secretary Neil Gray said in response to Sweeney that Police Scotland would use specialist public order officers as required, condemned the violence and said it was unacceptable .
The fear that these protests have prompted in communities across the country cannot be underestimated.
In Belfast, a two-month-old child had to be moved from her home after people went door-to-door to try and target foreign nationals.
A nine-year-old and their family were put in the back of a Land Rover and had to be rescued from violence.
In Glasgow, worshippers were locked in a mosque in fear for their safety. Members of the public were attacked solely based on the colour of their skin.
This hate has been whipped up by the far right, it has been encouraged by some in the political class, who are now using their platform in the Scottish Parliament to sow division.
Reform cannot have it both ways. They cannot urge people to take to the streets and then pretend they are not responsible for the consequences.
But the police, local authorities and others in positions of power have to take responsibility too.
A slow response will only allow the far-right to run their narrative as far as they can take it, and it will be minority groups who suffer as a result.
