The racist thugs of the "Scottish" Defence League were prevented from having any demonstration at all on Saturday, because of the successful counter demonstration of the Edinburgh Anti-Fascist Alliance. Hundreds of us turned out on the day in a vibrant and exciting protest, to show the racist thugs that their bigotry and divisive hatred is not welcome in Edinburgh.
After congregating at the Princes Mall, we marched to the bottom of the mound. Once our scouts gave us reliable information about where the main meeting point for the SDL was, we marched toward that location. We went down the royal mile, dodging police kettles, and avoiding the attempts by the UAF to take us to the Scotland United Demonstration. We rallied at the Jenny Ha pub which was the main meet up point for the SDL, and the police quickly surrounded the pub as we arrived.
Our presence there ensured that they were not able to leave the pub to have their planned demonstration at the Scottish Parliament. Our actions made sure they were not even able to have a rally, as they were allowed to do in Glasgow.
The police were forced to put around 80 EDL/SDL trapped in the pub on buses, and they were sent out of town, many of them back to Glasgow, most of them back to England.
In other areas of town, seventy EDL at Waverly Station, who had travelled up from England were kettled in the train station by police. And anti-fascists chased a group of EDL who were attempting to get to the Jenny Or back to the train station, only to join their friends in a police kettle. After a few hours standing on a cold platform in a police kettle the EDL were all sent back to England.
Their efforts to have a racist protest in Edinburgh were completely disrupted, and we have left them demoralised. It is unlikely that there will be another SDL demonstration in Scotland, after our success in Edinburgh yesterday, and the success of the Glasgow Anti-Fascist Alliance in November.
Well done to everyone who turned out on the day, it is a great success that we should all be proud of!