SCOTTISH Secretary Donald Dewar was forced off the stage last night by chanting anti-poverty demonstrators just five minutes into a speech on the future of Scotland, write Benedict Brogan and Robbie Dinwoodie.
Members of the National Petition Against Poverty, waving banners and shouting slogans, interrupted Mr Dewar as he opened a keynote address in Glasgow. The 10 men and women hurled abuse at him and the audience, shouting ''Tory scum'' and ''The Labour Party is a bunch of Tories''.
Police were called in, but the protest ended peacefully after 20 minutes and the demonstrators were allowed to leave the new Piping Centre in Cowcaddens without arrests.
Mr Sean Clarkin, a spokes-man for the group, said it was their first ''non-violent action'' in support of the rights of the poor. ''We speak for those who aren't being served. We want money distributed fairly. We are arguing for genuine welfare reform through full employment,'' he said.
Mr Dewar, who resumed his speech, played down the disturbance. ''If they have a genuine complaint to make, this is not the way to do it,'' he said.
He had just begun his speech, the first in this weekend's New Scotland Conference organised by the Centre For Scottish Public Policy and sponsored by The Herald, when the demonstrators marched to the front of the hall and began reading out statements.
A vision for the millennium based on a fresh approach to Labour's traditional cradle-to-grave philosophy was outlined by Mr Dewar in his speech. He said we had to base our hopes on our youngest citizens if we were to win a place in the new hi-tech future.
''We must maintain a rigorous approach to standards through our education system and we must broaden and adapt the nature of education and provision in order to confront the twin problems of deprivation and illiteracy,'' he said.
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