The visit of the former Trump aide to Edinburgh will be attended by hundreds of protestors

Hundreds of demonstrators are set to attend the visit of a controversial former aide to Donald Trump.

Ex-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon will visit Edinburgh International Conference Centre for a media summit later today (14 November).

More than 200 anti-racism protestors are expected outside the European Broadcasting Union’s News Xchange – with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon having already pulled out of the event.

“We call on all those opposed to the growth of the far-right to protest at the conference should the organisers not cancel Bannon’s invitation,” read a statement from Stand up to Racism. The group also called on protestors to complain to the BBC which is co-hosting the conference.

Bannon – founder of the right-wing news website Breitbart - was one of President Trump’s closest aides until he quit the White House in August last year.

Nicola Sturgeon had been due to appear at an event at the National Museum of Scotland tonight to open the conference, but said last month she was pulling out because she “will not be part of any process that risks legitimising or normalising far-right, racist views”

BBC Scotland director Donalda MacKinnon stressed Bannon had been invited by a European Broadcasting Union (EBU) committee, but defended the BBC’s right to cover the event.

She said: "It is really important in a conference that is absolutely about journalism that we go to the heart of our journalism and our journalistic practice, which is about holding people to account, which is about interrogating, which is about scrutiny.

"It was felt by the committee who invited Steve Bannon that it was right to do just that, and that is why he will be there".