SACC Statement on Recent Racist Mobilisations and Violence
26 June 2026 - SACC
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SACC condemns the racist mobilisations and violence of recent weeks, triggered in the first place by evidence that emerged at the beginning of June of police mishandling of the murder of Henry Nowak by Vickrum Digwa in Southampton last December, and then re-energised by shocking footage of the knife attack on Stephen Ogilvie in Belfast on 8 June, for which a Sudanese man named Hadi Alodid has been charged.
We are particularly alarmed by the riots in Belfast from 9 to 11 June, which have been aptly described as pogroms, and by the racist violence in Glasgow following a racist rally on the Royal Concert Hall Steps on 9 June which saw people of colour attacked on the streets, businesses damaged and worshippers locked into Glasgow Central Mosque for their own safety.
Besides the racist demonstration and violence in Glasgow on 9 June, racist gatherings were held on the same day in Edinburgh, Falkirk, Perth, Ayr, and Paisley. Police Scotland described these events as “peaceful demonstrations.” We do not think that is an appropriate way to describe mobilisations that stoke race hatred and Islamophobia, whether towards asylum-seekers and other immigrants or towards the wider population of people of colour.
We reject comments by figures across the political spectrum claiming that protests like these reflect “legitimate concerns” over immigration. Hostility towards immigrants is always shaped by racism. Filthy racist and Islamophobic abuse has been a routine feature of protests outside hotels housing asylum-seekers in Scotland. There is nothing legitimate about any of this. Attempts to distinguish between anti-immigrant racism and other forms of racism are doomed to failure.
We are further alarmed by the attacks in Edinburgh on 19 June, allegedly by a lone individual named Lewis Hawkes. Legal proceedings are live and great caution is in any case necessary in drawing general conclusions from the actions of an individual. But the fact that the incident came little more than a week after mass racist mobilisations around Scotland coupled with reports that two of those injured had just left Broomhouse Mosque and reports of Islamophobic remarks by the alleged attacker at the time of his arrest have been deeply shocking not only to the Muslim community in Edinburgh but to Muslims and other minorities around Scotland.
Whatever the outcome of the legal process, urgent action is needed to change the political atmosphere that has left Muslims and people of colour feeling so exposed.
Police allege that Lewis Hawkes’ offences, which include five counts of attempted murder, were aggravated by reason of having a terrorist connection. It may be some time before we know the basis for the alleged terrorist connection. However, SACC is opposed to the UK’s terrorism laws in their entirety and we do not support their application in this situation. Some people have applauded the claim of a terrorist connection, perhaps in the belief that it reflects society’s abhorrence at the crimes allegedly committed. We believe that purpose would have been better served by attaching aggravation by racial and/or religious hate to the charges.
The UK’s terrorism laws protect the interests of the British state, not the public. Most of the legislation was passed under circumstances in which MPs and the public understood it to be directed mainly against Muslims. It has contributed to the growth of Islamophobia and the political disempowerment of Muslims and has helped nurture ideas that led to the racist violence of recent weeks. The overwhelming majority of terrorism charges brought in the last year have been directed against expressions of support for Palestine. The claim of aggravation by reason of a terrorist connection has been used vindictively against people convicted for causing damage to weapons factories that supply Israel. Its use over the Edinburgh attacks is window-dressing intended to create support for legislation that anti-racists should stand against.
Many people have contributed to the political climate that enabled this month’s disgraceful outbreak of racism.
By supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza the British establishment has injected racist poison into the political consciousness of everyone who has fallen under its influence. In May 2025 Keir Starmer brought this devil’s brew to boiling point with his “island of strangers” speech. He gave the far-right a vocabulary they have used ever since. Earlier this month Reform MSP Thomas Kerr described immigrants seeking housing in Scotland as “strangers.”
On 9 June, immediately after police mishandling of the murder of Henry Nowak was revealed, Kemi Badenoch gave a speech in Parliament critical of the discussion of institutional police racism in the 1999 MacPherson Report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. In doing so she gave support to claims by Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson about anti-white “two-tier policing” and pulled away the foundations of the framework through which people of colour seek fair treatment from the police.
Nigel Farage called for “pure cold rage” in response to the murder of Henry Nowak. If he did not at first anticipate that his words might put violent mobs onto the streets, a moment’s reflection on the racist disorder of the previous two summers should have made him think again.
On 9 June, speaking on BBC Radio Manchester, Andy Burnham said he agreed with Nigel Farage that the country needs to “get back to a sense of order.” If he had thought it important to isolate Farage’s brand of politics at a time of surging racism, he would not have allowed himself to be quoted as supporting a comment by Farage. And if he had thought it important to stem the tide of hostility towards immigrants he would not have called, as he did, for more people to be locked up in immigration detention.
Also on 9 June Tommy Robinson used his X account to promote racist mobilisations in Belfast, Glasgow and elsewhere around the UK. In a post re-posted by Elon Musk he said: “The whole of the United Kingdom is hitting the streets tonight at 7pm following yet another invader attack on our people.”
SACC spokesperson Richard Haley said:
“An ecosystem of racism spans almost the whole of our political culture. Racist language ranges from dog whistles to wolf howls, but all of it serves as political currency. Political figures at different points in the ecosystem have competing goals, but they all have a mutual interest in adding value to the currency. Anti-racists need to break up the racist ecosystem and trash its currency.
The canard about anti-white prejudice and two-tier policing is an example of this. No one at all believes that prejudice actually works that way in Britain. Racists pretend to believe it and racist-adjacent people pretend that it’s a serious point. The rest of us should be forthright in saying that it’s nonsense.”
SACC has campaigned for many years against racism and Islamophobia. We were part of the Scottish Parliament's Cross Party Group on Tackling Islamophobia and in August 2019 we provided a submission to the CPG’s inquiry into Islamophobia in Scotland. Two of the points made in our submission are central to tackling the present situation.
We said:
“The intersection between Islamophobia and hostility to migrants and refugees is central to the way that racist and far-right attitudes and power structures are developing in the UK.”
We also said:
“Contemporary Islamophobia in Britain (including Scotland) has been strongly shaped by the upshift in interventions in the Middle East, North Africa and Afghanistan by countries in the global north that followed the end of the Cold War.” We noted that this included “the continuing support given to Israel by Europe and the USA.”
SACC now calls for anti-racists to prioritise two areas of activity to roll back the growing political and street strength of racism.
- We must stand in solidarity with asylum-seekers and against all forms of anti-immigrant racism and Islamophobia. Protests outside asylum-seeker hotels have rightly been countered by anti-racist demonstrations. We must go further and dissolve the ground on which racists build by involving many more people in day to day solidarity with asylum-seekers and by campaigning politically for asylum-seekers’ rights. A number of groups are doing valuable work along these lines but their support needs to be scaled up rapidly and given greater public exposure.
- We must counter the trans-national character of the far-right movement by strengthening the international consciousness of anti-racist activism in the UK. This means standing against Israeli genocide and apartheid and integrating that position into all our anti-racist work.
Richard Haley said:
“Britain is supporting genocide in Gaza. We cannot possibly succeed in building an anti-racist political culture inside a state that supports genocide unless we place ourselves in opposition to the prevailing positions of the state. We don’t need the support of politicians who can’t bring themselves to condemn genocide. Their managerial approach to race relations and their disrespect for international law are liabilities to our movement and play into the hands of the far-right.
Racists claim that the material difficulties people are facing are caused by immigration. They are wrong. We need to make anti-racism one of the foci around which we build the collective strength to insist on a more equal society. On this issue, as on international issues, there are precious few political figures who are our true friends.”
ENDS
Photo: Anti-racist demo in Leith, 21 June 2026, called by Living Rent. © Craig Maclean, all rights reserved
Notes
- SACC's Submission to the Inquiry into Islamophobia in Scotland conducted by the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group (CPG) on Tackling Islamophobia can be read here.
- An anti-racist "Reclaim our Streets" demo will be held in Leith on Saturday 27 June, assembling at 1pm in Montgomery Street Park. The demo was called by Stand Up to Racism Scotland. Organisations supporting it include the STUC, Falkirk For All and MEND.
- SACC was set up in 2003 in response to the threat to civil liberties in the UK resulting from the so-called “war on terror”. We oppose the use of excessive state powers to criminalise political activity through anti-terrorism legislation and other related policies.
- SACC is affiliated to the Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee (GGEC) and the Edinburgh Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee (EGGEC)
