On Saturday 7 November the Glasgow Hunger Strike Action Committee organised and successfully held a march calling for ‘Victory to the Irish People!’.
The march was the first in Glasgow after four months of bans under the Public Order Act. Although small in numbers, the marchers’ enthusiasm made it militant and noisy. The march went from Blackhill through Royston and back to Blackhill, winding its way through some of the poorest areas of Glasgow. Solidarity with Ireland’s freedom fighters was once again raised in the city streets and the march was well received by local people with many joining in along the pavements.
The march ended with a rally when speakers from the GHSAC and the RCG called for the campaign to go forward and asked for assistance in protecting and defending meetings and rallies.
The police and Strathclyde Regional Council allowed the march to go ahead under pressure from a GHSAC campaign to secure the right to march. Hundreds of local people signed petitions, letters were printed in newspapers and MP Ron Brown demanded that marches go ahead. MPs Ernie Roberts and Dafydd Thomas also lent their support as did the Scottish Council of Civil Liberties.
The successful march will give a welcome boost to the campaign for Irish freedom in Glasgow. It will answer those critics in middle class left circles who do not support the GHSAC’s determined and public campaigning. It will give heart to those who believed that after February’s march and the following bans there would never be another march in Glasgow.
GLASGOW MEETINGS ON IRELAND
On every occasion when the police have been unable to silence supporters of the Irish liberation struggle in Glasgow by the use of bans or harassment, Scottish Loyalists have been dragged out of the gutters to do the police’s dirty work.
On Thursday 29 October, a showing of the film ‘The Patriot Game’ organised by the Glasgow Hunger Strike Action Committee (GHSAC) came under an organised attack from Scottish Loyalists. Not only did they spit on and harass people attending the meeting but also a handful of them wormed their way into the meeting posing as supporters of the GHSAC. The Loyalists were able to violently disrupt the meeting, slightly injuring four people and smashing up the projection equipment.
Having received this boost to their confidence the Loyalist scum tried to repeat this at an RCG meeting on Ireland held on Tuesday 3 November in Glasgow. But on this occasion, a large number of stewards had been mobilised. The mere presence of this stewarding force was enough to deter the Loyalists. The meeting went ahead undisturbed.
It is clear that the right to hold public meetings must be fought for and defended. This means having large numbers of stewards to protect meetings on Ireland. The RCG is supporting moves by the Glasgow Irish Freedom Action Committee (formerly GHSAC) to get together a group of stewards who will be prepared to defend all events which may be attacked by Scottish Loyalists. We urge supporters of FRFI in Glasgow to join with us to defend the right to campaign in support of Irish freedom and national liberation.
Mike Gibbs
FRFI 14 Nov-Dec 1981
