Protesters against anti-Muslim campaign to take to the streets

An anti-racism campaign group is holding a protest against a hate campaign urging people to “punish a Muslim”.

Stand Up To Racism Edinburgh will hold a Stand Up To Islamophobia Day event in Scotland’s capital city today, one of a series of similar events across Britain.

The protest aims to counteract the twisted social media and letter hate campaign which allocates points for crimes against Muslims.

Among the speakers at the event on the Mound between 5.30pm and 6.30pm are Scottish Trades Union Congress president Satnam Ner and Leith Labour councillor Gordon Munro.

The Muslim Women’s Association is encouraging people to get involved with their Love A Muslim Day campaign today. A spokeswoman said: “We are asking supporters to post positive messages to Muslims on social media throughout the day.

“The perpetrator of the hate letter is inciting hatred and violence and this act must be prosecuted as a hate crime.

“Sending poison pen letters has always been a very serious crime precisely because of the distress it causes, and the fact that the author is anonymous is disgusting cowardice.

“To counter the negative and distressing effect on Muslim friends in England receiving the hate letter we are focusing on bringing our communities together today by inviting everyone to combat Islamophobia online using hashtags #NoToIslamophobia #RageAgainstRacism.

“We call on our political representatives to support antiracist campaigns and make sure 2018 is the year we stamp out such bigotry.”