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Standing in front of a shop selling Polish produce in Aberdeen, John Carr held a microphone on a hot August day and addressed those gathered at the refugee protest.
“Hundreds of thousands of white girls have been raped by Pakistani rape gangs” he said in a speech littered with claims associated with far right conspiracy theories. He claimed that “old women live in fear surrounded in occupied neighbourhoods, filled with vengeful, violent foreign ‘third-worlders’”.
“British children are left to fend for themselves in schools overrun with brutal and hateful third-worlders (sic)”, he continued, while the public faced “pointless” covid-19 lockdowns when politicians, according to him, merely “bent the knee to black conquest”.
Police Scotland were just as bad, he said: “You may arrest all of us, you may charge all of us,” he railed. But in a matter of months’ time, the tide will change, and it will be you who are answering the questions”.
His scripted speech lasted just over 12 minutes and when he finished the crowd applauded and started to chant: “Send them home! Send them home! Send them home!”
Carr is a former Royal Marine commando and cagefighter who guarded nuclear weapons at Faslane naval base until he lost his job amid allegations he is a right wing extremist – claims he denies. He is also a member of the Homeland Party, a far right political organisation whose activists have attended anti-migrant protests across the UK this summer.
Homeland’s presence has prompted claims that far right actors are exploiting locals’ genuine concerns over hotels housing asylum seekers for their own political agendas, while allegedly fuelling racial tensions.
Last year Scotland escaped the riots that England witnessed when mobs attacked people and tried to burn down a hotel housing asylum seekers, but in recent months there have been regular protests against migrants in our towns and cities. An investigation by The Ferret found that aside from Homeland, extremist groups such as Britain First and Patriotic Alternative (PA), have attended these demos.
Homeland members have attended protests in Aberdeen, Falkirk and Perth, with prominent party figures giving speeches. The party advocates mass deportations and promotes a nationalism based on the “law of blood” but outwardly rejects violence. It was founded by a Scot called Kenny Smith, from the isle of Lewis, who was once a candidate for the far right British National Party, which had a whites-only membership policy.
Smith is Homeland’s chair. He started the organisation in 2023 after leaving Patriotic Alternative, whose supporters included neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Homeland was allowed to officially register as a political party last year despite objections lodged with the Electoral Commission, as reported by The Ferret.
Billy Briggs
Aside from John Carr, Homeland members who have given speeches at protests include a senior figure called Simon Crane, who is a former member of Patriotic Alternative. In 2022, The Ferret revealed that a podcast hosted by Crane featured convicted criminals and extremists, prompting condemnation at the time by anti-racism campaigners and politicians.
Crane said then that PA “unequivocally condemns violence and terrorism”. He travelled to Aberdeen last weekend to speak at a protest against the use of a hotel to house asylum seekers, and in a short speech he urged the crowd to get involved with politics. “I’ve come a long long way to be here today, all the way from West Lothian, to give you my encouragement and advice,” Crane said.
Britain First, which announced in January it had appointed a new regional organiser for Scotland, has protested against migrants in Falkirk, as has Patriotic Alternative. At a recent protest in Falkirk one attendee appeared to give a fascist salute and a banner was unfurled which read “Kill ’em all, let God sort ’em out”.
PA, deemed a neo-Nazi group, has previously been accused of exploiting anti-asylum seeker protests in Scotland. In 2023, The Ferret revealed that white supremacists with PA travelled from England to Erskine to attend demos, with two men later jailed for racist offences. We also revealed that – according to a police intelligence report – PA was under surveillance at the time when it was trying to recruit “disgruntled locals”.
Trade unionists have allegedly been targeted by PA. Tam Morrison, of Clydebank TUC, told The Ferret that Patriotic Alternative had attempted to steal the trade union’s weekly pitch outside Clydebank shopping centre and accused them of “spouting race hatred”. “They have been back filming our stall, shouting we are ‘anti-white’ and use their seemingly favourite term of abuse, that we are all ‘pedoes’,” he added. “They also threatened to get ‘the young team to sort us out’”.
In Aberdeen, far right activists have targeted pro-Palestinian campaigners, it has been claimed. Human rights campaigners said they have been harassed for more than a year. One video shared with The Ferret shows a man punching a pro-Palestinian activist at a protest. In a separate incident this month, a Stand Up To Racism meeting at Quaker House, Aberdeen, was targeted when cars outside were egged and “fascists” tried to get into the premises. The incident was reported to police.
Fascists are attempting to stir up hatred and division in our communities, by blaming the most vulnerable people in society for poor social conditions.
A spokesperson for Stand Up to Racism Scotland
A source in Aberdeen, who requested anonymity due to fears of retribution, claimed that since pro-Palestinian “anti-genocide protests” started in the city in October 2023, there has been a “surge of incidents including unsolicited racist slurs and physical attacks on crowds and individuals” taking part at events. They added: “A formal complaint to Police Scotland regarding some of these initial incidents submitted in June 2024 remains uninvestigated. The impunity enjoyed by far-right individuals has clearly emboldened them.”
There is no evidence that any of the above named people or groups were involved in these specific incidents.
Two men were charged this month under the Hate Crime Act following a protest held outside accommodation used for asylum seekers in Aberdeen. Meanwhile, a Facebook page supporting anti-migrant protests has urged football supporters of Aberdeen and Falkirk, who play each other on Sunday in Aberdeen, to protest together outside a hotel housing asylum seekers. “We hit a hotel with 100’s of us together,” the post says.
Anti-racism campaigners voiced concern about The Ferret’s findings. A spokesperson for Stand Up to Racism Scotland said that “fascists are attempting to stir up hatred and division in our communities, by blaming the most vulnerable people in society for poor social conditions”.
A spokesperson added: “It’s concerning too that mainstream politicians have been rubbing shoulders with such people at events organised by the far right. For instance, Conservative Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick was recently photographed in Epping beside Eddy Butler, a former British National Party strategist and veteran far-right activist.
“At a time when Reform UK is calling for mass deportations and the Labour government is proposing to fast track asylum cases, weakening asylum seekers’ legal rights, it is important that everyone comes together to defend refugees and migrants, and to ensure that we stop the growing far right threat.”
Maggie Chapman MSP, of the Scottish Greens, called on the Scottish Government to make a statement on “the rise in these fascist protests” as soon as Holyrood returns after the summer break, adding that “we cannot normalise them or let extremist groups threaten people’s safety”.
She said the protests have a “deeply unpleasant character” due to the presence of far right actors and that “everyone – asylum seekers included – deserve to feel safe and free from racism and hate where they live”.
We have no connection to any disorder or the other accusations.
Kenny Smith, Homeland
Georgie Laming, director of campaigns at HOPE not hate, said some people are “exploiting local tensions to whip up hatred” and “multiple protesters connected to far right groups” have been identified at UK protests.
She added: “For example in Epping earlier this month protests included current or former members of Homeland, Patriotic Alternative, For Britain, Blood and Honour, and Combat 18. Homeland is especially trying to insert themselves into the discourse, but they are not a real driving force. They are seeing the protests as an opportunity to exploit.”
In response to anti-asylum seeker protests in Perth last week, local councillors issued a statement criticising the use of “misinformation” which has created “heightened tensions and concerns”. Scotland’s first minister John Swinney said he was proud of the city for showing solidarity with refugees, while Labour MP Joani Reid accused far right activists of whipping up “hatred and division” and “coked up yobbery”.
However Kenny Smith, chair of Homeland, defended protestors. He said: “John (Carr) is a fantastic young man, a true patriot, who has been targeted not for doing anything wrong but for ‘thought-crime’ and for standing up for the integrity of the marines.” Carr, he claimed, was not available for comment and Smith insisted that Simon Crane was there as “regional organiser” in order “to support activists and the local community”.
He added: “We have no connection to any disorder or the other accusations. We would not trust the word of Stand Up to Racism or far-left trade union activists, who are often aggressive themselves. It is gross to describe large numbers of locals standing up for themselves as ‘fascist protests’, no matter who speaks.”
Local tensions exist because of the “consequences of mass immigration”, Smith continued, adding that “when people are pushed and abused by these groups and by their own government, a reaction is inevitable”. He said it is “normal for a political party such as ours to stand up for local people”.
A spokesperson for Patriotic Alternative Scotland said: “Scotland is not a migrant camp, and the existence of the Scottish people is non-negotiable. Patriotic Alternative Scotland will continue to partake in demonstrations as we are a white advocacy group, and we support the indigenous people of these islands.”
Police Scotland, Robert Jenrick, Homeland, and Britain First have been asked to comment.
Main image: gavmac/iStock
Hundreds of protected areas are under pressure from Scotland’s massive deer herd. Most agree deer numbers must be controlled to protect the environment, but are split on what should be done.
Edinburgh University students were “interrogated” by police at their desks over posters featuring Palestinians killed by the Israeli military, prompting dozens to complain.
Unsafe levels of faecal bacteria were recorded at dozens of Scotland’s best beaches this summer. Swimmers and paddlers could be at risk, but officials insist water quality remains high.
Footage of farmed trout suffocating, haemorrhaging, and being beaten with batons in a slaughterhouse has prompted an official complaint to a government regulator.
