TWITTER has responded in disbelief to Murdo Fraser's claims that "no cause justifies" the protesting seen across the UK as part of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Apparently pushed into comment by the violent far-right fascist protests in London today, the Scottish Tory MSP tweeted: "What we have seen over the past two weeks is simply thuggery on our streets.
"Extreme left or extreme right, makes no difference. Just thugs. No cause justifies this."
What we have seen over the past two weeks is simply thuggery on our streets. Extreme left or extreme right, makes no difference. Just thugs. No cause justifies this.
— Murdo Fraser (@murdo_fraser) June 13, 2020
The implication that black deaths at the hands of police, such as Sheku Bayoh's in Kirkcaldy in 2015, was not a cause worth protesting sent shockwaves through the online community.
The co-leader of the Scottish Green, Patrick Harvie MSP, tweeted: "Apparently it 'makes no difference' whether they are racists or anti-racists."
Economics professor and former MEP Molly Scott said there was a "shocking attempt to falsely suggest moral equivalence" coming from various high-profile Tories, saying it must be the party line.
However, the public were not swallowing Fraser's false equivalences, with one person asking: "Are we at all surprised Murdo Fraser MSP see's no difference between those fighting for racial justice and fascists?"
What inane equivocating guff.
— Jack Deeth (v3.0) (@JackDeeth) June 13, 2020
One side is marching because they are attacked, threatened, unlawfully deported due to the colour of their skin.
The other side are marching because… it's becoming unacceptable to publicly celebrate slave-traders with statues?
Many more people drew comparisons between the MSP and Donald Trump, who famously claimed there were "very fine people on both sides” after clashes between his white supremacist supporters and anti-racism protestors in Virginia.
Not on our streets. I can only assume you are referring to events in England.
— Bill Boyd (@Indy4Scotland) June 13, 2020
A fair number of Scots also took exception to Fraser's use of the phrase "thuggery on our streets", saying that the fascist violence had been confined to England, and had no place north of the Border.
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