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Scottish candidate wearing yellow star denies doing Nazi salute outside vote count
Liberal Party candidate condemned as ‘shameful’
May 7, 2021 16:55
Liberal Party candidate condemned as ‘shameful’
May 7, 2021 16:55A Liberal Party candidate in Glasgow Southside was filmed outside a vote count doing what resembled a Nazi salute and wearing a yellow star pinned to his jacket.
The yellow star was marked “UNVAX”, an apparent reference to the world’s vaccination efforts in the fight against Covid-19.
Footage shared on social media by Morning Star journalist Niall Christie showed the candidate Derek Jackson shouting the slogan “love all” as he repeatedly raised his arm upwards.
“Love all. All love in the love world order,” he could be heard saying in the clip. “Hate is criminal.”
Mr Jackson denied his salute and yellow star were Nazi, telling the Glasgow Times on Friday the gesture was a “love salute.”
He also told the regional outlet he was opposed to anti-hate legislation, saying he believed “people should be allowed to hate”.
Police have intervened at the Emirates after a candidate approached the counting hall doing what looked like Nazi salutes.
— Radio Clyde News (@RadioClydeNews) May 7, 2021
Derek Jackson, who is standing as the Liberal Party, was allowed inside as he’s standing in Glasgow Southside.
He was approached by journalists: pic.twitter.com/zmi1dhCGTX
Scotland's justice secretary Humza Yousaf, meanwhile, told the Daily Record that Mr Jackson had confronted him with questions about Pakistan, a line of questioning he felt was linked to the "colour of my skin."
The incident was widely condemned on social media, with anti-racism charity Tell MAMA UK saying it was “utterly shameful.”
“We condemn this in the strongest terms. We stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters against those who seek to demean or trivialise Jewish people who were killed or persecuted in the Holocaust,” the charity tweeted.