THE Scottish launch of anti-Islam group Pegida collapsed in farce yesterday after its followers failed to show up for their own first demonstration.
A few dozen right-wing protestors gathered in an Edinburgh sports bar, but failed to stage a protest outside the Scottish Parliament.
Pegida, which stands for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, was formed in Germany last year and attracted around 25,000 people to a recent march in Dresden.
Branches of the group have since sprung up throughout the UK and nearly 400 people turned up for a similar protest in Newcastle.
However, yesterday's "static" demonstration outside Holyrood, intended to mark the arrival of the group in Scotland, failed to take place.
Police believed supporters of Pegida Scotland would gather at Waverley train station at 2.30 in the afternoon and make their way to the Parliament.
However, the 200 or so anti-fascist protestors who gathered outside Holyrood Palace for a counter-demo waited in vain.
Graeme Walker, an organiser with the right-wing Scottish Defence League, told the Sunday Herald that 40 people, "at a push", had met in a bar beside the station.
He said the small numbers had persuaded those who had shown up to abandon the Holyrood event: "At the end of the day, Pegida has some value, but it needs organisation. In Germany, 25,000 people marched in the pouring rain.
"There were mixed messages in terms of where people had to meet. They should have put out a lot more information."
He added that pockets of SDL supporters were also dispersed close by, with a view to participating in the event, but they also decided to stay away.
Over 100 police officers were working at the demonstration, costs that will be met by the taxpayer.
One left-wing activist said: "There were more horses than fascists."
Humza Yousaf, Scottish Government Minister, said: "Scotland completely rejects this type of bigotry - so it is no surprise that this dismal event was a complete wash out and in total contrast to the well-attended and positive anti-racism rally I spoke at in Glasgow at the same time.
"The language of division and discrimination is simply not welcome in Scotland - whether it comes from Pegida, from UKIP or from anywhere else."
[BLOB] Meanwhile hundreds of anti-racism campaigners yesterday gathered in Glasgow to mark UN Anti-Racism Day, with similar events taking place in London and Cardiff.
Grahame Smith, general secretary of event organiser the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC), said: "Major incidents like the Charlie Hebdo attacks, the killings in a Jewish supermarket and the rise of Pegida - an explicitly anti-Islamic organisation which managed to draw thousands of Germans on to the streets - require from us a clear focus on anti-racism."
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