HOLYROOD'S indycamp has been thrown into turmoil following a disastrous eviction hearing at Scotland's top civil court.
Major infighting has broken out between factions associated with the camp, which was established when activists arrived on the Scottish Parliament estate in November and vowed to maintain a vigil for independence until the country leaves the UK.
Much of the conflict centres around a list of 238 people whose names were put forward to the Court of Session as being party to the 'the sovereign and indigenous peoples of Scotland', the collective name used by the campers to respond to the court action.
It has been claimed that many of the people included on the list, who would be likely to become liable for costs should the parliament win its eviction case, had merely signed a declaration indicating their support for independence and had no idea their names would be put forward as part of a legal process.
The matter has come to a head following an order that the campers provide residential addresses for all of the respondents to the court action. Previously, all 238 addresses had all been given as the Scottish Parliament's estate but at a final hearing at the Court of Session last Thursday, Lord Turnbull said it was clear that home addresses would be required and gave seven days to comply.
Members of a camp 'legal team', who are not legally trained but represented the campers in court, have clashed with organisers of the protest and blamed each other for providing the list.
One long-standing camp member, who is believed to have left the settlement, said she was preparing to write to the court to accept full liability in a bid to free 238 people from "lies" and warned of a "dire" situation.
However, a legal practitioner, who asked not to be named, said there could be serious repercussions including criminal charges if incorrect information had been provided to the court. The prospect of contempt of court action has already been raised if the order to provide addresses is not complied with.
He said: "If they have not obeyed this order then there will be serious issues there, if names have been provided that shouldn't have been, the court will not be happy.
"The campers had every chance to comply with previous requests to vacate the land or at least give better arguments in court, but they haven't done that. The Scottish Parliament corporate body can have an expectation of getting some, if not all of its expenses awarded to them."
Both the parliament and campers are awaiting a written decision from Lord Turnbull over whether to uphold the eviction petition, although even some camp supporters are not hopeful of success after many of their legal arguments were dismissed as wrong by the judge who will decide the case.
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