Group behind Falkirk hotel protests pulls out over presence of ‘racist groups’

The campaign group behind regular anti-immigration protests outside a Falkirk hotel has announced it is pulling out of the demonstrations after they attracted “genuinely racist groups”.

The Save Our Futures & Our Kids Futures (SOF) group started the protests outside the Cladhan Hotel, which is used to house asylum seekers, last year.

In a message on its Facebook page on Tuesday, the group said all future demonstrations “organised or attended under SOF” have been cancelled after they attracted far-right groups including Patriotic Alternative and the Homeland Party.

SOF said the presence of these groups “completely derails the message”, which it said had been to get the hotel “shut down” and to challenge the Government’s current immigration policies.

The statement read: “This decision has been made because other groups have willingly chosen to stand alongside and invite organisations such as Patriotic Alternative and the Homeland Party to protests in Falkirk.

“These are genuinely racist groups, whose ideology includes beliefs that black, mixed-race, or non-white people should be removed from this country.”

The statement added: “This has gone far beyond protesting a hotel and failed immigration policies, and into territory that will only damage communities, discredit legitimate concerns and hand authorities the excuse to shut protests down altogether.

“Because of this, SOF will no longer attend any Cladhan Hotel protests.

“There will be one final update posted in the coming days, after which this page will be shut down permanently.”

The move was welcomed by anti-racism group Stand Up To Racism, which described it in a social media statement as a “victory for anti-racists and anti-fascists”.

The statement said: “Stand Up to Racism joins Falkirk For All in welcoming the decision by SOF founder and organiser Connor Graham to end the protests at the Cladhan hotel in Falkirk, disband the group and distance themselves from fascist organisations.”

Since the protests started last year they have seen stand-offs with anti-racism campaigners, with numerous police officers deployed to the town to maintain order.

A brick was also thrown through the window of the hotel in September, which was condemned at the time by First Minister John Swinney as “absolutely despicable”.