By Mark McGivern

Copyright dailyrecord

The man behind the hoisting of more than 1,000 Saltires in support of an anti-immigration campaign has been slammed after claiming his outrageous views are not racist. Kieran Logan has told the Record how his Tartan Team campaign has been inspired by Tommy Robinson – and Hitler. Yet he claims that saying “ gas them all ” about asylum seekers was not racist – because he didn’t make any reference to their colour. Last night Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney slapped down the Robinson wannabe, saying: “Mr Logan appears to be in denial that these comments are racist and anti-semitic but whether disingenuous or ignorant, his attitude is dangerous and must be challenged robustly at every opportunity. “The solutions to poverty, unemployment, homelessness and long waits for healthcare in Glasgow come from advocating for better conditions for every working class person – not to direct abuse at a relatively small number of people in our city who are fleeing war and persecution.” Speaking to the Daily Record, Logan, 27, said his work with the Tartan Team in Glasgow, has led to some regarding him up as a local hero. And the 27-year-old dad claims his work is already spreading throughout Scotland – boosted by the help of Robinson – with blue and white flags being raised from the Borders to Aberdeen. Logan said: “People are making me out to be an a******e. “The post about gassing people was put up in 2024 – over a year ago. I really couldn’t care less, to be honest.” Bizarrely, he denied that using such hateful language was racist, as he didn’t specifically refer to colour. He said: “There’s no racist comment on it. I would understand it if I said ‘this black man’ or ‘this white man’ but I didn’t.” Logan gushed in his admiration of controversial Raise the Colours organiser Tommy Robinson, who has emerged as a beacon for fascists and extremists in England. Robinson praised the “beautiful scenes” of Saltires being raised, sharing content created by Logan ahead of the huge anti-immigration march in London last weekend. Logan said: “Tommy Robinson has shared our videos. I can’t thank the man enough. “I think everything he does is absolutely amazing and I can’t understand why people think he’s not. I just don’t understand it. “There’s nothing wrong with Tommy. He’s a patriot for his country. There’s nothing wrong with that.” Logan said his flag campaign was inspired by his local followers. He said: “I got asked by my followers to start a donations page. And why would I start a donations page and not listen to my followers?” And he said he would be happy to organise mass demonstrations once his following gets over 100,000. Logan said: “I’ll make big changes. On heating bills. I’ll do protests and marches and sit outside people’s offices who are putting the rises on. “Parks are a shambles, bins are a shambles and the roads are even worse. Everything is a disgrace.” Logan, who has an online crowd-funder, last year mocked the deaths of migrants on a capsized boat as “f****n amazing” and branded Muslim men “perverts” on social media earlier this month. On his now deleted X account, Logan wrote “gas them all”, referring to asylum seekers. He also shared a video of a podcast praising Hitler. When quizzed by the Record, Logan doubled down in defending the actions of Hitler, saying it was “the drugs” that led to his worst crimes. Logan said: “Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I understand that Hitler went nuts at the end. No wonder, the drugs do that to most people. But at the start he had good intentions. “Maybe they slipped a bit but he had good intentions for his country. He got elected and five years later everybody got a job and nobody was homeless.” He added: “I shouldn’t have posted it. It was the heat of the moment, one of these things.” Logan said he has a growing team of 150 men putting up flags – usually under cover of night. He said: “We have 150 people on the case, putting up the flags at night . I have put on 2,200 followers on Facebook and 1,000 on TikTok in a couple of days and the numbers will go up and up. “We go out at night for safety because in England and Ireland people have been getting attacked by minority groups. Let’s just call them minorities. “People aren’t happy with others flying their own country’s flag and I just can’t understand it. “We have spent about £2,500 on flags and we are now getting them a lot cheaper because we’re getting them in bulk.” Logan said he is now being held as a local hero – but claims he is also receiving death threats by opponents. He said: “Look at the comments on the Tartan Team Facebook page. There’s people saying they will take this guy out for a pint any time. There’s people saying I’m a local hero, that I’m speaking up for everybody.“ “The biggest problem I’ve got from the story (in the press) is that I’m getting death threats. “Some of the comments are f****** disgusting. “I’m not a bad person but the problem with people giving you death threats is that it can turn you into a bad person easily. It’s quite scary.” Logan said the cult of the Saltire is fast spreading beyond Glasgow. He said: “I was contacted by a boy who was organising the funeral of his mother the other night. He wanted the flags to honour her. “He put up videos on social media and a lot of bodies jumped on it. I supplied the flags for the boy. “It’s gone the Borders, to Forfar and now Aberdeen has started. Fifer is starting. I have contact from all areas. “It’s not just a solo mission, it’s the Tartan Team.” Logan admits his ‘blocked’ lists on social media are even bigger than his following, given the level of vitriol his campaign has attracted. And he aslo admits that his Facebook site is littered with vile comments. He said: “There are racist comments on the page but that’s not what it’s about. “The page is about the fact that we get f*** all. People are getting cut off benefits. “One woman I spoke to said she hardly left one room because she’s scared to turn on lights because of the electricity bill.” Logan repeated the right wing mantra that all immigrants come to the UK for free houses and benefits. He said: “If somebody said to me, ‘look wee man, you want to come over here, do you want a phone, do you want benefits as well – that sounds amazing. When they come here, legally as well, but the problem I have is that they have family rights to bring their whole families over. “And we have a housing crisis just now. “I don’t know if you’ve seen the delivery driver scandal about all the rapists getting jobs?” He added: “The problem now is that the word ‘racist’ is used too frequently. I would say the world has gone soft.” Roz Foyer, of the STUC, has rubbished the facade of civic pride and community protection conjured up by groups like the Tartan Team. She said: “We would appeal to them to direct their ire towards politicians, not those who have fled famine, war and torture.” Father Jim Lawlor, of the Immaculate Conception parish on Maryhill Road, Glasgow, said the flag’s movement was “masquerading as patriotism, but it’s on the back of something far more sinister”.