rhythmaning | "Nae Nazis!"

It was such a glorious day that it felt wrong not to take full advantage, and so I decided to go for a walk through Holyrood Park - under the crags, up the Radical Road. I sat in the sunshine and ate lunch.

And so I got to the demonstration out the Scottish Parliament - at the foot of Arthur's Seat - late. Which is nothing new: these things usually seem to kick off later than anticipated.

This one, the first of the year (there had been one I intended to go to last weekend, but frankly I didn't feel like it), was protesting against a rally ostensibly by the German anti-immigrant, anti-Islam group Pegida. They had marched in Newcastle a couple of weeks ago, where the counter demonstration greatly outnumbered the marchers.

Personally, anti-immigrant marchers aren't welcome in my city: Edinburgh is an inclusive place, so this was a march I wanted to be part of. As I say, I got there late. There was a big crowd of anti-Pegida demonstrators (I had had a word with a policeman as I walked past on my way to the park, just to mark sure I got on the right side of barriers they were erecting: they were an awful lot of police around the Parliament, and it looked like there might be trouble, and I really didn't want to end up on the wrong side!). But no one on the opposing side. Perhaps they were late, I thought: previous marches by the "Scottish Defence League" had apparently bussed people from south of the border (such that SDL was actually said to stand for "Sunderland Defence League"): maybe they were held up on the A1.

But no: we were there, but the rally we were demonstrating against hadn't materialised. No one: nada.

For once the placards that said "Nae Nazis" were absolutely right: there were no Nazis there. As a friend said, it was the most successful demonstration ever!

But what were we to do? There were a few speeches, thanking us for coming out, praising the weather. There was a bit of a party atmosphere. Someone shouted they wanted to chant. So they lead us in some chants. To the amusement of the horde of police - who probably outnumbered us - we chanted "there are many many more of us than you!", which was undoubtedly true. And "whose streets? Our streets! Whose city? Our city!", also true.

It was a very good demo. The weather helped: it was gorgeous (and, beneath the crags, a superb setting). I'm hoping that the no-show by Pegida will be repeated, together with no-shows from the SDL/EDL, in the future. Though then there won't be a need for a demo. Perhaps we could have a commemoration of an inclusive, welcoming city, instead. Here's hoping.

Edit: in the interest of balance, it has been reported that there were actually four Pegida supported, but the hid behind a police van. And six others who arrived at Waverley, and stayed in the pub!