Whenever and wherever there is a crisis there is certain to be those who seek to exploit it for their own ends.

While the overwhelming majority of the population is suffering, in one way or another and looking for ways to help each other and society in general, there are those who see it as an opportunity.

In Glasgow we call them chancers.

Often it is financial, with people seeing the opportunity for investment, or overcharging for goods or services in short supply but high demand.

READ MORE:Right wing extremists are behind lockdown protest call

Increasingly it is fraudsters and low level conmen and women preying on peoples financial insecurities only to rip them off.

Others see a chance to use the fear and anxiety of the people to further their own political agenda.

They are the people who often encourage people to see the problems they face as being as a direct consequence of the actions or existence of others.

The latest attempt is seen in the posters advertising lockdown protests in two Glasgow parks (I won't bother to repeat the time and place).

The posters claim lockdown is illegal, obviously believe it is unnecessary, and encourage people to undermine it by breaking it.

It is nothing more than a desperate attempt at agitation, trying to get people on to the streets to create unrest and encourage civil disobedience.

A closer look suggests there is a more sinister element to these posts.

What is telling is that there is no official organiser. No-one is claiming responsibility. No-one is willing to put their name to this call for citizens to break the law for purposes that are detrimental to their own lives and actually put them at risk in the process.

It is cowardly and sadly characteristic of people who start a fight then run away leaving others to pay the price.

A closer look at the poster shows as well as no organiser, there is no actual event, just a place and a day and a time.

No speakers are advertised, no programme of events and not even a specific location within the parks mentioned.

Also they are all over the UK. It is not possible for that number of events to be planned, organised and executed in such a short space of time.

Instead all they are doing is encouraging people to take to the streets, to challenge the status quo and to vent anger.

Just like fear, where there is anger here is an opportunity for extremists to recruit.

It is believed, and there is justification to believe, is extreme right-wing groups, the sort of, small in number, right-wing groups that give those with legitimate right of centre beliefs a bad name.

The sort who have convictions for racially and religiously aggravated offences.

The sort who advocate free speech but want to shut down, and often shout down, others’ opinions.

Of course the extreme right are not unique in that characteristic.

The sort who see conspiracies everywhere, and usually the finger is pointed at one or another ethnic group.

The group behind it is believed to be called UK Freedom Movement started by a Richard Inman, a vocal supporter of Tommy Robinson.

The same Tommy Robinson whose reckless actions in trying to highlight a crime almost led to the collapse of a trail that convicted the very people he was railing against.

Glasgow Times:

Inman, if he is behind it, will not be at the protests, in the unlikely event any of them materialise.

He can’t, as they have been advertised in parks all over the UK.

Across Glasgow and the rest of the country people are suffering from lockdown and want it to end. But they want it to end when it is safe to do so and then they want to build a better society.

These people do not share the same aspiration.

These people and their like have in the past tried to whip up social unrest in Glasgow, either on the back of general political climate or in response to a specific event.

The names of the organisations they set up change as a new so- called leader emerges but the motivations and prejudices remain the same.

On those occasions, they have turned up, often bussed in from other parts of the UK, made a little noise, disrupted a few shoppers and occupied more police resources than they deserve, and then when they find they have been largely ignored, skulk back to where they came from.

Which is apt because that’s usually what they tell others to do.

Given our city’s distrust of chancers through the ages, it is to be hoped and expected they will be sent the same message as before.