Racists told to stay away from Ben Nevis after banner unfurls | Scotland

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Racists have been warned to stay away from Ben Nevis after a far-right group on Sunday unfurled a white banner that counts atop Scotland’s highest peak.

Politicians, anti-racist activists, environmentalists and mountain rescue experts have united in condemning the action of Patriotic Alternative, a British white nationalist group founded by Mark Collett, the former advertising director of the British National Party.

Witnesses at the summit told the National Newspaper that more than 20 members of the group were booed by shocked climbers as they produced the huge banner, one individual holding a saltire and another waving a flag bearing the alternative patriotic symbol .

John Stevenson, the leader of the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team, which covers Ben Nevis, said: We don’t need this kind of political protest on the mountain, especially when it reflects such appalling views . We don’t need those kinds of people to climb Ben Nevis for this purpose. They should stay away.

Westminster SNP leader Ian Blackford, who represents the constituency of Ross, Skye and Lochaber, where the mountain is located, called the reports utterly heinous.

When it comes to racists and racism, we need to be unequivocal in shouting this hatred everywhere and every time it rears its ugly head. These racists are not welcome here, he said.

Blackford added: The Highland Police Force is very community driven and I will speak to them to see what can be done.

The action appears to have been prompted by a competition between regional groups, featured on the groups website, to create an image of a white life message in a memorable location ahead of Indigenous Peoples Day on August 9.

Anti-racist group Hope Not Hate has previously described Patriotic Alternatives’ presence in Scotland as tiny, but warned that more generally the group had succeeded in uniting elements of the notoriously shattered and fractured British fascist scene, in particular actively targeting young recruits online. .

Nav Bakhsh, co-founder of the Glasgow-based Asian hiking group Boots and Beards, which aims to bring color to the hills, said the weekend’s events made members very uncomfortable.

Since our inception five years ago, our challenge has been to encourage the BME community to get out and explore Scotland, said Bakhsh. Now people are not only worried about health and safety in the hills, but also whether they will be mistreated. We tried to calm the nerves and explain that this is a very small group.

Bakhsh also expressed concern over the many foreign tourists at the summit who may have seen the banner. What message does it give about Scotland that the country is only for whites? We need tourists, especially now.

The John Muir Trust, which owns much of Ben Nevis, said they were contacted by members of the public who were on the mountain over the weekend and saw what they considered to be a promotional video filmed by the group far right.

We are deeply angered by the actions of the Ben Nevis summit over the weekend, by a far-right extremist group appearing to use the Ben as a backdrop for their heinous racist propaganda, the trust said in a statement. .

The John Muir Trust promotes diversity and inclusion in the outdoors. We have not and would not allow the release of a film on our land that goes against our belief that wild places are for everyone. The John Muir Trust has zero tolerance for discrimination, and any action promoting discriminatory views is not welcome on the lands we manage.

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