Scotland must send a strong message of welcome to Syrian refugees and challenge racist attitudes in the wake of the Paris attacks, the Scottish Labour leader has said.
Kezia Dugdale called on communities and individuals to stand up to intolerance and bigotry after a surge in hate crimes following the terror attacks in the French capital.
She was speaking before attending the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC)'s annual St Andrew's Day march and rally in Glasgow.
Video by Stewrat Atwood
Refugees who have made Scotland their home are due to speak at the event, which this year has the theme No Racism: Refugees Welcome Here.
Ms Dugdale said: "By marching through the streets of Glasgow today we can send a strong message to those who have made their way here from afar in search of a better life.
"We can let refugees fleeing civil war and terrorism in Syria know that they are welcome here and will find the hand of friendship in Scotland.
"We must never accept intolerance or bigotry of any kind. The dark days of turning a blind eye to casual racism can't ever be allowed to return. It's the job of everybody in our communities to stand up to those who are intolerant of others.
"For some the response to the awful terror attacks in Paris is to close the borders and turn our backs on those from outside our country. That would be the wrong response because it's exactly what the terrorists want us to do.
"Those who attacked Paris want to fundamentally change who we are as a society. We cannot let them win."
Speaking in advance of the event, STUC general secretary Grahame Smith said: "With a humanitarian tragedy unfolding, it seems appropriate to use the annual anti-racist St Andrew's Day march and rally to send a clear message that Scotland welcomes refugees and that we are ready to provide space in our country for all those who need it.
"We need to do more to support refugees at home and abroad. We must also challenge racist attitudes that exist in our community and in our workplaces.
"The violence directed against Scotland's Muslim community after the Paris attacks shows just how much work still needs to be done."
Video by Stewart Atwwod
The march assembleD at Glasgow Green before setting off at 11am through the city centre to a rally at Glasgow Film Theatre at 12pm.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel