FORMER Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill and advocate of a controversial law to stamp out sectarianism at football matches has called for the Scottish Parliament to recognise a Scot's role as a prominent republican in the 1916 Easter Rising which marked the beginning of the end of British rule in Ireland.
The Edinburgh Eastern MSP wants official recognition for James Connolly who was executed by a British firing squad because of his leadership role in the Easter Rising of 1916.
The move has stunned supporters group Fans Against Criminalisation who are fighting to have the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 which Mr MacAskill championed repealed on the grounds that it is "fundamentally illiberal and unnecessarily restricts freedom of expression".
FAC tweeted: "MacAskill, arch proponent of the OB Act, has put a motion down in Holyrood... recognising James Connolly's role in the 1916 Rising... Irony Alert!!
They added: "No words for this!!"
The Scottish Government and Mr MacAskill pushed through the Act in a bid to get tough on sectarianism in the aftermath of the Old Firm 'shame game' in 2011.
FAC say the Act has "achieved nothing other than to criminalise otherwise law-abiding citizens and discriminate against football supporters in an unwarranted and unjustifiable way".
More than 6000 people have so far backed their petition in advance of the August deadline for the government review of the Act.
Mr MacAskill's motion calls for Parliament to "recognise the role that Edinburgh-born James Connolly played in the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland, notes the progress of his life from his birth on 5 June 1868 at 107 Cowgate, including his army service, and subsequent desertion, in Ireland...."
The Easter Rising was an armed insurrection in Ireland in Easter Week on 24 April 1916 mounted by Irish republicans who wanted to end British rule.
The British army quickly suppressed the rebellion, leading to an unconditional surrender on Saturday April 29.
Support for independence continued to increase until the 1918 general election when republicans won 73 out of the 105 seats.
Scotland is to play host to a series of commemorations next year to mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising which marked the beginning of the end of British rule in Ireland.
The 1916 Rising Centenary Committee (Scotland) want to commemorate the contingent of Glasgow-based members of the Irish Volunteers, Cumann na mBan which is an Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation and Na Fianna Éireann, the nationalist youth organisation who crossed to Ireland to participate in the 1916 Rising.
In particular, they want to highlight the key role played by Connolly, the Edinburgh born commander-in-chief of the republican forces who was executed by a British firing squad for his role in the Easter Rising.
Mr MacAskill's motion also wants to recognise Mr Connolly's membership of the Scottish Socialist Federation, his work with the Independent Labour Party in its early days after being founded by Keir Hardie and his involvement with socialist politics in the USA before he returned to Ireland to play his part in the Easter Rising.
The motion notes that the centenary of the Easter Rising in April 2016 will also mark a century since Connolly's death.
It also welcomes the launch of the 1916 Rising Centenary Committee (Scotland) and "understands that this encompasses a wide array of Irish and Scottish community interests, relatives of the participants in the Easter Rising, cultural, heritage and sports organisations, academics, representatives from the arts, the trade union movement, the Scottish Government and politicians from different parties in Scotland, and looks forward to the events planned to commemorate the centenary".
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