AN ANTI-MASK group which opposes coronavirus policies and has been kicked off Facebook is organising a protest in Glasgow.
The 'We Do Not Consent' demonstration is planned for Buchanan Street at noon on Friday.
It comes in the wake of mass gatherings of Covid-19 conspiracy theorists in London to demonstrate against lockdown restrictions and vaccination programmes.
Fliers for the Glasgow leg of the 'Covid 19 Truth Tour 2020' say the protest aims to call for an end to lockdowns, social distancing and track and trace.
It calls for people to say no 'to the muzzle' and vaccination programmes.
It also demands "freedom of speech (not censorship).
StandUpX which is behind the Glasgow event said that last week its Facebook group of 40,000 members had been removed.
It is organising a mass rally in Trafalgar Square, London next week with conspriacy theorist David Icke as the best speaker.
Mr Icke's official Facebook page was taken down in May for publishing "health misinformation that could cause physical harm".
Mr Icke has made several false claims about coronavirus, such as suggesting 5G mobile phone networks are linked to the spread of the virus.
In one video, he suggested a Jewish group was behind the virus.
Following the ban, his Twitter account posted: "Fascist Facebook deletes David Icke - the elite are TERRIFIED."
Facebook said as early as April that it was banning users from organising “events that defy government’s guidance on social distancing”.
The Glasgow demonstrators are due to gather at St Enoch's Square.
Jeremy Corbyn's brother Piers was arrested at the end of August during a related mass-gathering of Covid-19 conspiracy theorists who took to the streets of London to demonstrate against lockdown restrictions and vaccination programmes. He was fined £10,000 for helping to organise the event.
The former Labour leader's older brother was filmed being taken away from Trafalgar Square by a gaggle of mask-wearing police officers who hauled him into a van.
More than 10,000 anti-lockdown protesters who believe coronavirus is a hoax gathered for the 'Unite for Freedom' rally.
Demonstrators called for an 'end to Government lies' and the restoration of all freedoms as they marched past Downing Street towards the Houses of Parliament.
StandUpX also appears to have been behind a march on August 1 which saw crowds of people marching to the London headquarters of the BBC.
The StandUpX site makes a number of claims which are highly debatable or straightforwardly untrue: The group says it is against forced vaccination – but there is no such thing in the United Kingdom.
In 2019 the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, said he was considering bringing in compulsory vaccinations in England in response to an upsurge in measles, in line with some European countries.
But neither the Scottish or the UK government has legislated to force parents to have their children vaccinated.
It says that "Tracking & Tracing is a total violation of personal privacy and freedom to associate. It is a digital Gestapo.”
Many would say it is unfair to compare the UK and Scottish government’s programme of tracing coronavirus cases to the activities of the Nazi secret police.
One major difference is that many parts of the NHS Test and Trace scheme are voluntary – they rest on people agreeing to take part.
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