Glasgow Council Protects N.f

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Trade Glasgow's Labour Council, notorious for its recent use of troops to smash a council drivers strike, continued its anti-working class course last Saturday with the use of vicious police action against trade unionists in order to defend a National Front meeting.

The meeting itself was held on council property - the Kingston Hails, Paisley Road.

This episode follows the recent confrontation between demonstrators and NF members in Oxford, during which the NF "Honour Guard" thugs physically attacked the counter-demonstration, and later beat up anti-fascist students. Here, too, a Labour council laid on police protection for the fascists.

In Glasgow, however, only a handful of NF members turned up, and the task of strong-arm "defence" was eagerly taken up by local police. A specially picked detachment of police pitched in to the 500-strong counter-demonstration, punching, kicking and dragging off anti-fascists into a waiting van.

Among those arrested in this way were several leading local trade unionists - Trades Council Secretary John Reidford, T&GWU District Secretary Hugh Wyper, David Bolton,: Scottish NUM vice president - as well as lan McKay, Glasgow CP Secretary. In all some 65 anti-fascists were arrested and will appear in court this week. Many others were punched or kicked by police.

Workers must draw the lessons from the treacherous actions of these Labour councillors, and begin at once the campaign to hound them from the workers' movement. At the same time, the mobilisation from the unions, including organised defence squads to protect demonstrators against open fascist attack, must be stepped up, to ensure the NF are denied a public platform for their anti-working class views.

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