English classes are being targeted by anti-immigration protesters – but they’ve been politicised for years

Just as the protests outside asylum hotels of summer 2025 faded from headlines, some anti-immigration groups turned their attention to another target: English classes.

On November 24, a protest was organised outside a primary school in Glasgow, in opposition to an Esol (English for speakers of other languages) class being delivered for parents of children at the school. Holding placards reading “protect our kids”, protesters claimed that these classes presented a danger to children at the school.

The protest was widely publicised by Spartan Child Protection Team, a self-styled vigilante “paedophile hunter” group. Just three weeks earlier, the group circulated complaints online regarding an Esol class taking place in a community learning centre next to a primary school in Renfrew. In response, Renfrewshire Council shut down the classes.

Other anti-immigration groups across Scotland have followed suit, raising “safeguarding concerns” around Esol classes – specifically, the presence of migrant adults in proximity to schools.

Glasgow City Council took a strong stance in response to “social media speculation around family learning........

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