Like a few other curious individuals, concerned citizens and free thinkers who oppose the lockdown on the apparently insane principle that there is no evidence whatsoever that it is doing any good but on the contrary there is much evidence it’s doing harm. I attended today’s Anti Lockdown demo in Holyrood Park.

Apart from the disparate and brave few(I identified around 30)who defied Wee Sister in order to push back against state overreach, notable by absence were any I could possibly describe as “Far Right”. I should know, I’ve been on that end of the spectrum and they aren’t generally hard to spot, even sans Doc Martin’s and hakenkreuz. Despite several attempts by the witch-hunting and race baiting press, who by my estimation outnumbered the protesters at least 1.5 -1(unless there were a lot of protesters with big cameras), to find any fascists, they seemed sadly disappointed in the end.

However, given that the term “far right” has absolutely no objective meaning today, I wouldn’t put it past the press to just apply the label liberally anyway. As I demanded of one, what appeared to be female journo, “far right of who?” Far right of Pol Pot? Far right of Stalin? Far right of anyone who reads the Guardian and thinks people should be forced with the threat of violence to pay for services they neither want nor consent to? While it may be the case the event may have been organised by or connected with For Britain (I never really got to the bottom of that one) I personally didn’t attend to support THEM I attended to oppose the lockdown. As did anyone else I spoke to. Besides, I wouldn’t describe them as “far right”. Far wrong, maybe.

There may have been more reasons than protesters as to why so few turned up today. The majority of people may well be reluctantly in support of the lockdown. But I suspect most people grudgingly put up with it and hope it goes away soon. Some may support the sentiment but just think a protest is a bridge too far. Others who I have spoken to are concerned about the possible consequences of attending a state censured, In fact prohibited, gathering. No one wants to end up in the pokey just for turning up to a public meeting. Or worse still lose their livelihood over it. We didn’t need Covid in Scotland for that, anyone labelled “far right” ran the risk of that before the lockdown. Perhaps the less than clement weather played a part.

The police response was, while I was present at least, pretty low key. The odd verbal intervention to advise us all to “maintain social distance” was as far as it went. In the main it was good natured, peaceful and worth attending. I obviously wish more people had turned out, but in light of the fact they were being told by the press they’d be rubbing shoulders with Nazis and that opponents of the event on social media were calling for police to use water cannon and tear gas against anyone gathered. No, seriously!( Who’s the Nazis?) I can’t really blame people for not sticking their neck out.

All in all in spite of the low turn out it felt good to push back against the state even in a small way. If we allow the state to keep pushing unopposed it will push us all the way into the gulag. It’s all very well bitching and complaining and putting up salty and humourous memes on facebook, but what are you prepared to do? While it’s true that I technically took part in an illegal gathering. Let’s not forget that Tiananmen Square and the Hong Kong protests were illegal gatherings too. They had considerably more to lose than us. Remember that.

So bugger the NHS. Let’s hear it for the happy few who told Wee Sister to F**k right off!

Tam Laird is Leader of the Scottish Libertarian Party and co-host of the Scottish Liberty Podcast