A new neo-Nazi organisation recruiting in Scotland is run by a banned terrorist group, according to anti-racism campaigners.
System Resistance Network is the latest extreme far right group to appear on Scotland’s streets.
It has been condemned by anti-racism groups who are calling for it to be banned.
SRN is explicit about its neo-Nazi political beliefs and it wants a white power revolution to bring down “the System” in the UK.
Its members prompted a public demonstration in Dundee recently after putting up homophobic and anti-refugee posters in the city.
Hope Not Hate – a UK wide anti-fascist organisation – said that SRN is run by National Action which was banned under terror laws last year.
After National Action was banned it reinvented itself as Scottish Dawn north of the border and started recruiting again.
But Scottish Dawn was banned by the UK Government in September after we exposed its links to National Action.
The ban followed a seven month undercover investigation by The Ferret, published jointly with the Daily Record.
Revealed: neo-Nazi terrorists are behind Scotland’s newest far right group
SRN says on its website: “The National Socialist never capitulates. He will never negotiate away his freedom. He will never compromise his ideals. We are revolutionary National Socialists united by struggle: the struggle against the System.
“We are building a family of loyal and dedicated men and women who will not sit back while the storm clouds build. Our imperative is the destruction of the System. A system that imports non-Whites en masse to rape our children and colonise our country whilst criminalising any pushback from the public.”
SRN’s website depicts a lion on a Union Jack background with a swastika on its forehead.
Hope Not Hate said: “SRN appeared about one month ago. It’s National Action under another new name. They’re all National Action…Scottish Dawn, NS131 and System Resistance – which uses National Action style artwork on its website.
“It’s old National Action artwork on SRN’s website – that National Action stopped using years ago. SRN have been active in Swansea, Cardiff and Bristol. They’ve hit quite a few places and there are around 30 people helping the person who runs SRN. They are trying to antagonise the state.”
Hope Not Hate named an individual who allegedly runs SRN but we cannot identify him for legal reasons.
In reply critics called for SRN to be banned.
Zareen Taj, Anti racism campaigner and Secretary of the Muslim Women’s Association of Edinburgh, said: “The SRN are a sinister product of the growing normalisation of Islamophobic hate and anti refugee rhetoric that has been sweeping Europe over the last few years.
“As a hijab wearing Muslim woman and anti-racism activist, I am fully aware of the horrors experienced by families on the receiving end of such hate. Hate fuelled words become physical attacks by groups of youth beating up a school boy in Edinburgh while calling him “paki”. A taunt I have not heard since the 70s.
“A refugee family in Wester Hailes has their baby’s buggy set on fire and has to struggle to be re housed. These incidents do not grab headlines but are happening in our communities.
“It is clear that it is time to close down any self professed Nazi group immediately so that their poisonous lies and hate messages do not add to the disinformation already prevalent in our media; this only sows seeds of discord and divides our diverse communities.”
Bid for neo-Nazi party in Scotland rejected by Electoral Commission
Unite Against Fascism said: “This tiny group of lunatics is clearly breaking race hate laws with their posters and Social media posts. They are a poisonous organisation and the individuals within it should be prosecuted for their race hate speech.
“The rise in Islamophobia and anti-refugee sentiment from politicians and certain newspapers has sadly opened the door for antisemitic views to become aired again.
“Across Europe fascist parties, many spouting anti-semitism, are on the rise and we all should be vigilant to stop groups like this gaining even a toe hold. I praise the people who pulled down the System Resistance Network posters almost immediately after they appeared. We should remember the slogan after the reality of the Holocaust was revealed at the end of the Second World War – Never Again.”
In Dundee recently horrified residents ripped down anti-refugee and homophobic posters.
Two were stuck to the window of Allsorts, an LGBT youth group in the city. They read: “AIDs isn’t a disease, it’s a cure to f****try. Hail AIDs.”
Another flyer was stuck to the front door of the city’s office for registration of births, marriages and deaths, targeting refugees.
It said: “Refugee Scum. F*** OFF! Keep Britain white. Join your local Nazis.”
Police Scotland said the contents of the posters are illegal and would fall under hate crime legislation.
A spokesman added: “As some of you may be already be aware, over the past few days posters displaying racist and homophobic content have appeared at various locations throughout Dundee City Centre. Obviously, offensive material like this is completely unacceptable, and distributing it is illegal.
We know that the public in Dundee have been reacting with outrage and disgust, and that some of these posters have been removed by members of the public who have came across them.
“If you have done this and believe that we are unaware of where a poster has been or when it has appeared there, we would like you to let us know.”
Meanwhile, six people were arrested yesterday on suspicion of being members of the banned far-right group National Action.
Five men from Cambridge, Banbury, Wolverhampton, Leicester and Stockport, and a woman from Banbury were detained by police earlier.
All six were being held at a police station in the West Midlands.
Police said the suspects, aged between 21 and 37, were detained under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act as part of a planned operation.
They were arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism, namely on suspicion of being a member of a proscribed organisation, National Action.
A shorter version of this report was published by the Daily Record on 27th December 2017.
