Masked men gathered in Glasgow city centre tonight for a White Lives Matter protest, and police quickly filled the streets around Buchanan Galleries as hundreds of people watched from the steps. Over a dozen police cars lined Jamaica Street, while officers blocked Glasgow Bridge and Buchanan Street in a display that turned a busy shopping district into a cordoned-off scene.
The rally was tied to anger over the murder of Henry Nowak, the 18-year-old whose case has driven fresh outrage after police body-worn video was released this week. That footage showed Nowak being placed in handcuffs moments before he became unconscious and later died, a sequence that has given the protest a new urgency for those gathered in Glasgow tonight.
Earlier this month, Vickrum Digwa, 23, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years for Nowak’s murder in December. The protesters unfolded a banner reading: “Henry Nowak, stabbed, handcuffed, bleeding, ‘I can’t breathe’, White Lives Matter.” The wording made clear what they said brought them there, even as the location and the heavy police presence gave the scene a far wider reach than a small rally on city-centre steps.
But the gathering was being read very differently by anti-racist campaigners. Stand Up To Racism Glasgow said people involved had beaten up passers-by and stolen a delivery driver’s bike, calling the meeting an attempt to create division and saying many of those present were far-right. The group also said: “Glaswegians of all backgrounds and and of all faiths and none will stand together against any attempts to spread violence and hatred in our communities.”
It added: “Time and again we have shown the far right a majority of us reject their poison,” and urged people to get involved and help prepare to resist racism and the far right in every community. Police Scotland has been approached for comment, and there is still no public confirmation of any arrests or what action, if any, officers took beyond sealing off the area. What is already clear is that a protest built around a murder case and a charged slogan brought a large police operation into the middle of one of Glasgow’s busiest streets.
