On Saturday, multiple demonstrations converged on the city centre, supporting each other and showing the will to make the world a different place, reports Lewis Akers

Today was a day of solidarity and protest in Edinburgh with multiple demonstrations called. Thousands turned out across the city to oppose the far right, defend the right to protest, show solidarity with Palestine, support Scottish independence and stop environmental catastrophe.

The day started with a counter-demonstration outside the Scottish Parliament led by Stand Up to Racism which comfortably outnumbered the seventy-odd fascists who gathered to support the demonstration called by holocaust-denier Alistair McConnachie’s organisation A Force For Good. His organisation disguises itself as a pro-UK group but that is merely a mask it wears as a veil of acceptability for their vile politics. Many of the same hardened racists and fascists who have been the core of the demos in Perth and Falkirk reared their ugly heads in Edinburgh today, showing that it’s fascists who have to bus in supporters not anti-fascists. The demonstration included many great speeches but the highlight of the demonstration was an anti-fascist disco and singalong led by Cabaret Against the Hate Speech who use music to counter the far right.

Anti-fascists were joined by thousands of pro-independence marchers who chanted in support of the anti-fascist demonstration. They marched the length of the royal mile to the Scottish Parliament to demonstrate the continued support for Scottish Independence eleven years after the 2014 independence referendum. The most impressive part was when hundreds of bikers from a pro-independence biker group roared past and also showed their support for the anti-fascist demonstration gathered at the end point of the independence march.

At the same time, demonstrators from Stop Rosebank gathered outside the UK Government HQ in Edinburgh to protest against the Rosebank Oil Field. Reports from the demo suggested  a strong voice in support of stopping further environmental destruction, featuring a vibrant display of banners and the impressive spectacle of the red-robed women who featured heavily in Extinction Rebellion demonstrations, haunting demos with their ghostly white makeup and striking scarlet robes.

Following the Stand Up To Racism demonstration, protestors made their way to The Mound to gather for the Stop The War Coalition national demonstration. The square outside the national galleries echoed with pro-Palestine chants while hundreds marched triumphantly to the UK government building to stand in solidarity with a hundred Defend Our Juries activists gathered outside, who defied the ban on Palestine Action by holding illegal placards while holding a silent vigil.

Following speeches and chants, the Stop The War Coalition rally heard reports of an arrest being made at Waverley Train Station and an impromptu march and sit in was held at the station in solidarity with the arrested activist. Jade Eckhaus, the co-chair of Stop The War Coalition in Scotland made clear to the police that when they arrest Palestine protestors they will face our defiance.

What linked all the demonstrations aside from decent people with a moral impetus to be there was a belief a better world is not only possible but essential, and that we can defeat war, fascism and the climate crisis if we unite and oppose the complacency of our government and those across the world.