The Scottish Conservatives see protests outside their conference, as party is accused of Le Pen type right wing demagoguery
ANTI-DETENTION AND PRO-LGBTI PROTESTERS surrounded the entrance of the exhibition centre in Glasgow as the Scottish Tories ended their first day of party conference yesterday (Friday 3 March).
Chanting and singing the group, numbering approximately 40 people, demanded that the UK Tory Government is held accountable for its policies which they say “lack respect for humanity” and resemble the designs of far-right parties such as the French National Front and Ukip.
On the day UK Prime Minister Theresa May gave a speech to the Scottish party, the campaigners from the groups We Will Rise, the Unity Centre and LGBT Unity declared the party was showing signs of being in line with the forces of right-wing populism across Europe.
Polly Urquhart, spokesperson for the coalition of campaigners told CommonSpace: “The UK Conservative Party are part of right-wing forces across the Europe, supporting a system that builds walls in Mexico and Calais, deports and detains people with no respect for humanity, and cuts access to women’s shelters, crisis centres, and LGBTQA+ services.
“The issues we face today, increasing disparity between the world’s richest and poorest, climate change, War as a sick byproduct of western interests and a booming unregulated weapons industry, require radical re-imagining of state borders, not enforcement of them.
“We are here to tell Theresa “your borders kill people”. We will not be silent. No one is illegal!”
Glasgow’s Robert Makutsa is denied asylum bail as loved ones vow to fight on
Scotland has seen recent clashes between the Scottish Government and UK Tory Government on a range of policies that have shown the gap between the political mood of both forces.
The case of Robert Makutsa, a Kenyan-born Glaswegian and sound engineer, now in detention by the UK Home Office despite the petition of the Scottish Government and his family has shown the difference in policy between the two governments. The Scottish Government has also demanded that Scotland during Brexit negotiations, obtains the right to have its own developed asylum and immigration system.
Early last month the Home Office also announced it would not close its controversial detention centre at Dungavel because it failed to gain access to a new site near Glasgow airport. Dungavel has been at the centre of accusations of abuse, instances of suicide and the denigration of the human rights of detained asylum individuals.
In response to the protests that occurred, the Scottish Tories “did not wish to comment” on occurrences outside the conference.
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