National Front targets Aberdeen

Mike Martin

The application by the Aberdeen cell of the National Front to hold a "family fun day parade" on St Andrew's Day has caused a furore in the Council and consternation in the city.

The City Council Licensing Committee met on 25th August to consider the application where they were warned they could be left facing financial surcharges and disqualification from public office if they voted to ban the NF from staging their first ever march in Scotland through the centre of Aberdeen. Despite popular support for a ban the Committee voted instead to defer their final decision, pending further consultations with Grampian Chief Constable Colin McKerracher. The disarray of the Committee has given the energetic National Front Organiser, David MacDonald the media spotlight, whilst the popular opposition clustered around the Senior Citizens Forum have been largely ignored.

Legal Officer upholds National Front right to march

Earlier, Crawford Langley, the Council's Director of Legal Services, had warned councillors that they could be reported to the Standards Commission and disqualified for up to five years if they voted against the march. Mr Langley explained that the Council had previously voted to ban a march by the Orange Order through the streets of the city and had subsequently lost an appeal to the Sheriff Court. The Sheriff had upheld the Order's right to march under human rights legislation. Mr Langley told councillors: "The law, in at least this Sheriffdom, is absolutely clear. In order to prohibit a parade you have to have serious grounds for infringing the human rights of those organising it to free assembly." Mr Langley also warned councillors that, unless they had solid legal grounds for banning the march, he would be obliged, as the Council's monitoring officer, to report them to the Standards Commission. And he continued: "The Standards Commission has, as its ultimate sanction, the disqualification of a member for up to five years."

Reaction of the Councillors

Several councillors angrily condemned the dilemma they faced. Labour Councillor Brian Rattray declared: "I have been advised more or less that I have no choice but to say yes to this march today. Why are we all sitting here if we have no choice?" He was backed by veteran Labour Councillor George Urquhart who said he felt he had been badly let down by the Chief Constable who has indicated the police have no objections on law and order grounds.

Four Liberal councillors, despite the legal advice, voted to prohibit the march but they were defeated by 13 other members of the council's licensing committee who voted instead to defer a final decision until 25 October to give the Chief Constable the opportunity to look again at the possible public disorder and public safety implications of the march.

Misuse of the Human Rights Act

The people of Aberdeen are ill served by the Council's legal advice. The Human Rights Act correctly anticipates that one group's rights can come into contention with another's rights and that it is up to the legal process to determine which take priority. Mr Langley made no reference to the violent means with which the National Front pursue their objectives and that many of their leaders have criminal convictions for assault. It is this well documented violence which threatens the human rights of many of Aberdeen's citizens, whether they are from an ethnic minority, gays, trade unionists or socialists. Moreover no one appears to have challenged this unhelpful equivalencing of the Orange Lodges which are part of the (conservative) social fabric Scottish society and the National Front which is not.
Growing Opposition…

Attention is now focussed on the Licensing Committee meeting on 25th October which will gives opponents time to pressurise for a ban. Already, one of the four dissenting councillors, Martin Greig, chairman of Aberdeen Community Safety Partnership, has passed evidence to the City Council's Chief Legal Officer that the National Front intended to use the march as a national rally for extremism and racism. He said members of the far-right organisation from London and the south of England are, according to their website, organising a cheap awayday flight from London to Aberdeen on the day of the march.
Adding to the pressure, Kapil Kumar, president of the Indian Society of North-East Scotland, spoke out at the Indian Society's Indian Independence Day celebrations. "It is not the march that worries me but the embers that might be left behind. We don't want it to be the proton or neutron that leads to an explosion of racism in the city. The audience included Deputy Chief Constable Pat Shearer and Aberdeenshire Provost Raymond Bisset.

Tasks for the Left

Clearly all possible avenues must be explored to persuade the Licensing Committee members to vote to ban the march in order to defend their community. The Committee are trying to body swerve the responsibility by deflecting the hot potato to the Chief Constable whose interest is limited to maintaining public order rather than wider community interests. The Committee have an opportunity to redeem themselves if they can find the spine to take it. It is up to the left to form a united front of sufficient weight and clarity to help them.