HUNDREDS are expected to take to the streets of Edinburgh tomorrow morning to protest a BBC sponsored event with Donald Trump’s former right-hand-man, Steve Bannon.
The ex-advisor, who was described by the Scottish Greens as a “white supremacist,” is due to take part in an interview with the BBC’s Sarah Smith in the city’s conference centre.
Police Scotland said they were aware of the planned protest by Stand Up To Racism and that “officers will be in attendance to help facilitate safe and lawful demonstration.”
Last week, BBC Scotland’s director, Donalda MacKinnon, told MSPs that Bannon had been invited by a European Broadcasting Union committee who are organising the event rather than the corporation.
But she defended his appearance: “It is really important in a conference that is absolutely about journalism that we go to the heart of our journalism and our journalistic practice, which is about holding people to account, which is about interrogating, which is about scrutiny.
“It was felt by the committee who invited Steve Bannon that it was right to do just that, and that is why he will be there.”
Nicola Sturgeon had been due to appear at an event at the National Museum of Scotland tonight to open the conference, but said last month she was pulling out because she “will not be part of any process that risks legitimising or normalising far-right, racist views”.
She added: “I regret that the BBC has put me and others in this position.”
Green MSP Ross Greer accused the broadcaster of aiding the far-right. “With extreme racist sentiment rising across the world, our public broadcaster needs to get a grip,” he said.
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