Protesters calling for a 'Covid-free Scotland' at the country's border with England have been spoken to by police.
The small group positioned themselves in a layby area near the A1 at Lamberton on Saturday urging English holidaymakers to turn back.
Some were wearing hazmat suits and face masks, while others carried Scotland flags and homemade banners.
They were urging anyone travelling into Scotland from England not to cross the border.
READ MORE: Iain Macwhirter: Who will win the Border war over coronavirus?
A banner being held by one protester read: “Staycation: Keep Scotland Covid free”.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Police in the Borders were called to a layby area near the A1 at Lamberton at around 2.25pm on Saturday, 4 July, 2020 following a report of protest activity at the side of the carriageway.
“Officers attended and suitable advice has been given to those in attendance.”
The demonstration has attracted widespread criticism from politicians in Scotland, with Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw describing the scenes as 'shocking and inexcusable'.
These scenes today are shocking and inexcusable. That they have been backed by an SNP MP is woeful. She’s fast enough to tweet about everything else, so why no disassociation and condemnation from Nicola Sturgeon? Their disgrace is her disgrace the longer this goes unchecked.
— Jackson Carlaw MSP (@Jackson_Carlaw) July 4, 2020
Pete Wishart, the SNP MP for Perth and North Perthshire, described the protest as “counter-productive and ill-conceived”.
I have no idea how anybody would think this would win over support for independence. It could not be more counter productive and ill-conceived. pic.twitter.com/182YFXsv5c
— Pete Wishart (@PeteWishart) July 4, 2020
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We condemn this type of behaviour in the strongest possible terms. This is an isolated incident and not indicative of the vast majority of people’s views.”
READ MORE: Police Scotland say they will not be making changes to policing in the border area
The demo comes after more than 10,000 people signed a petition urging for the border to be closed to 'all but essential traffic', and after Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed there is 'no such thing' as a border between the two countries.
Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested on Thursday that Nicola Sturgeon may be modelling herself on President Donald Trump amid the border debate.
He said that although it may not be a 'bricks and mortar' structure like Trump's border with Mexico, but Ms Sturgeon wants a 'metaphorical wall'.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel