No Borders group in Nationalists ‘attack’ claim

Vote No Borders was set up in support of a No vote in the referendum. Picture: Hemedia

The Vote No Borders campaign has been forced to block comments from being left on its website, as a result of the onslaught.

The campaign says it had a positive reaction from people throughout Scotland and the UK.

But it added in a statement: “There was also a huge burst of negative reaction from some section of the ‘Yes’ support. Perhaps we were being naive, but we did not expect such a virulent and nasty attack. In particular, there has been unfounded criticism levelled at us, whipped up by Nationalist websites.”

Claims that the campaign has been backed by the UK Government have been dismissed as “untrue and a deliberate slur.”

It adds: “We know that the levels of abuse targeted at our site initially discouraged people from signing up. This is hardly democratic.”

The Vote No Borders campaign says it was partly established in an effort to provide the No campaign with an answer to the “large and long established network” of ‘Yes’ bloggers and social media networks which has built up in recent years.

But it adds: “Since our launch we have been forced to remove the ability to freely leave a comment on our site, videos and other content after abuse from extreme Nationalists. We may review this once we have become fully up and running.”

And a group of young musicians who featured in last week’s launch did not escape the onslaught, according to the statement.

“What is wholly unreasonable is the level of venom directed at our young musicians,” it added.

“They are not politicians and are expressing sincerely held views, yet the outpouring of online abuse for extreme Nationalist says little for those who purport to seek a democratic vote.”

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