GLASGOW city centre could become the front line in a Nazi soup kitchen turf war after a group of vigilante anti-fascists promised to take to the streets in a bid to fight far-right white supremacists targeting homeless people.
Red Front Republic, a pro-independence, anti-fascist, pro-Irish unity group will be running a “food drive” around Glasgow this Saturday, with a spokesman telling The National they wanted “to distribute food and essentials to anybody who may need it, regardless of their colour or religion”.
The spokesman said the group were “disgusted” by the reports of the “whites only” soup kitchen operated by neo-Nazi group National Action, and wanted to respond.
“We have actually been planning this for a while and have done various work like this in the past but haven’t publicised it,” he said. “One of the main reasons behind this is in response to National Action and their ‘white only’ soup kitchen. Having spoken to various people, they were disgusted by this, especially with it being so close to home.
“We strongly believe in equality so to deny someone less fortunate some help and assistance because of the colour of their skin or religion is unacceptable.”
RFR aren’t publicising where they’re going to be and when – they will be actively going around Glasgow. They don’t expect trouble from the teenage Nazis of National Action but have promised they will act “accordingly” if trouble finds them.
“While we don’t advocate for violence and never will advocate for it, the type of group that we are, we aren’t worried in the slightest about National Action. On Saturday our main goal is to help out people in need. If anyone wants to disrupt that, then we will deal with that accordingly.”
This paper reported last month on the neo-Nazi group’s “white rescue”, where they gave food and supplies to homeless people based on the colour of their skin.
The group were condemned in parliament, with Glasgow MSP Sandra White calling their “white rescue” homeless events “discriminatory and racist”.
Community Safety Minister Annabelle Ewing said National Action’s behaviour was “completely unacceptable” and committed the Government “to doing all that we can to stamp it out”.
In yesterday’s paper we reported that they had taken their so-called “soup kitchen of hate” to Aberdeen at the start of the month.
The group were members of the BNP youth wing, who splintered from that band of bigotry in revulsion at plans to be less confrontational.
They are fiercely pro-Trump, pro-Brexit and hold eye-catching events such as the Miss Hitler pageant.
The “white rescue” food kitchen is similar to a tactic used by the Nazis themselves in pre-war
Germany, where food was used as a recruiting tool. Greek fascist group Golden Dawn have also used street work and charity work in a bid to gain credibility.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here