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Comment by Veen | Hacker News Reader

What exactly do you mean by anti-Irish marches? There are no such marches so far as I am aware. If, as another commenter has speculated, you are talking about Orange Order marches, these are not anti-Irish. They are pro-Unionist and anti-Irish-Nationalist. They are not banned because the UK doesn't usually ban people for walking down the street together.

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It seems very out of place that these people simply walking down the street as you say, were openly singing about killing people based on their ethnicity. Same type of nuance as the crowds waiting for MLK at the bridge in Selma being purely interested in advocating for States' rights.

Similar people, similar politics of hate however you want to dress it up.

Do you think your analysis is undermined by the fact that most Orange walks take place in Northern Ireland and are conducted by Northern Irish people? There are even Orange walks that take place in the Republic of Ireland. Only a handful take place in Scotland.

They are not anti-Irish; they are Unionist. If you don't know what that means, consider educating yourself. You should also consider not viewing everything through the lens of US history and American race relations. The specifics matter.

The hate festival I witnessed myself in Scotland was no dry political walk as you're trying to disingeneously paint it - it was a manifestitation of absolute anti-Irish hate by a bunch of far-right types singing songs about killing people based on their ethnicity.

I've no interest in learning why these people think it's OK to express their deeply offensive views on the streets of a Scottish city, or indeed any other street or city.

They are anti-Irish. That’s baked into their identity and was added as an ingredient literally centuries ago. US history has nothing to do with it except insofar as they brought their bigotry with them when they went there.

The people who march in Orange parades may be from Northern Ireland but they do not consider themselves Irish in any way and would be deeply offended if they were described as such. British. Ulster Scots. Northern Irish at a stretch. But never Irish.

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