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d be thankful to be here and pay their way”.
But further down the road, university student Eilidh Ross said she could understand why some migrants felt unwelcome.
“We need to find more humane ways of talking about these things,” she said.
There is concern among political and community leaders that Scotland could be heading for an increase in hate crimes.
That fear is amplified by the language used by some politicians, which critics argue has emboldened the far right.
At the fringes of the counter-protest in Falkirk, two local men who gave their names as William and Harry accused the prime minister of “not having the balls to close the borders”.
The men were keen to stress they were not affiliated to any far-right movement. But they were in broad agreement with the complaints being made across the road.
“I come from working class Scotland and it’s the working class who are being forced out because they can’t get housed,” said William.
“I’ve got nothing against the asylum seekers themselves, I’ve got big compassion for them. But it’s the British government I’m angry with. And Starmer is ignoring us.”
But as the two groups faced off across the road from each other, a transportation worker named John tried to break the tension by blasting the John Lennon song Imagine from his radio.
He said he was “just here to make folk smile and to give everyone a lift”.
For a few moments, people on both sides appeared to forget their differences and joined in chorus.
But the strains and the divisions exposed by the crisis over asylum seekers and public services are likely to linger long after the music has faded
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