​We must reject the politics of hate - Lorna Slater

Anti-migration protesters are seen during riots outside of the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, which is being used as an asylum hotel, in Rotherham. Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The sight of violent far right mobs storming the streets and trying to set fire to hotels in Rotherham, pictured, and Tamworth because they had refugees in them was truly chilling. I can’t imagine how awful it must have been for the people trapped inside. My heart and my solidarity are with everyone who has been made to live in fear.

A lot of the disorder is being organised, coordinated and fuelled by misinformation spread on social media, with bad faith actors knowingly exploiting a grieving community in the aftermath of the awful killings in Stockport. Yet, even if some of the ways these groups are organising is new, the hatred that underpins them is not.

From the tone of some coverage you could be forgiven for thinking it is a uniquely English problem, but there is an active far right across Europe and beyond. It’s easy to say “it could never happen here” but, unfortunately, we’re not immune to it in Scotland.

There is a far right rally set to take place in central Glasgow next month, and you can be sure that the mobs who are looting shops and spreading fear will be hoping for similar violence up here. I have no doubt that they will be met by a united movement and that those who oppose them will be far greater in number.

But I also know that will not stop people from feeling scared or intimidated. That particularly goes for our Muslim communities, who have the right to live in safety and security and without having to rely on friends and family to help get them home safely.

The politics that have underpinned these riots may be extreme, but all political parties and institutions have a role to play in confronting and challenging it. Unfortunately our two largest parties, Tory and Labour, have spent much of the last 14 years trying to outdo each other in terms of who can be “toughest” on immigration, all egged on by parts of the media.

That’s part of why we have dawn raids, deportation vans and vulnerable people being detained in prison-like conditions. None of this has happened overnight. It has taken years. That’s not the kind of country we should be. The constant cycle of scaremongering and demonisation has contributed to the well of hatred that these groups are drinking from and exploiting. Nobody is born racist. It is learnt, and it can be defeated. We all need to stand together, and reject the politics of hate and those that would harm or divide us.

Lorna Slater is co-leader of the Scottish Green Party