POLICE Scotland have responded to an activist's concerns that he was charged with a race crime for displaying a banner reading 'England Get Out Of Scotland" to stop the spread of Covid-19.
Police Scotland say he was charged because the wording on the banner was "considered offensive" and was accused of a "racially aggravated" offence.
Serial protester Sean Clerkin led a small number of activists from the grassroots Action for Scotland group who staged the protest at Edinburgh Airport in August and campaigned to close borders in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus.
The group claimed that “irresponsible” English tourists were putting the country's attempts to contain Covid-19 in Scotland at risk and carried out demonstrations around Scotland.
The charge came after Edinburgh Airport hit out at the activists who staged a protest on its grounds demanding English tourists do not travel to Scotland because of the rise of cases south of the border – branding their actions as ‘despicable’.
But nationalist agitator Mr Clerkin has hit out at the "absolutely ludicrous" decision to charge him saying it was a "malicious prosecution", that he had the right to protest under the European Convention on Human Rights and that the protest had "obviously" nothing to do with being anti-English.
Police Scotland responded saying: “In August 2020 officers received complaints following a banner that was displayed at Edinburgh Airport. Enquiries were carried out and a 59-year-old man was arrested and charged with a breach of the peace, with racial aggravation and for displaying a banner with wording considered offensive. He was released on an undertaking to appear in court at a later date.
“Hate crime in any form will not be tolerated, if you are victim of hate crime or you witness it, we want you to report it. It will be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated.”
Veteran independence activist Dave Llewellyn (left) who was a key figure in a controversial Scotland-England border protest last summer frowned on by Nicola Sturgeon has insisted it was not an anti-English move. Mr Clerkin (right) also took part.
Mr Clerkin was taken from his home in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, to Helen Street Police Station in Glasgow to be interviewed after the incident but thought that charged would be dropped.
He was later accused of behaving in a "threatening or abusive manner, which was likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm, in that you did attend and display a banner with offensive and racial remarks, contrary to Section 38/1 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing Scotland Act 2010".
It was further alleged that the offence was "racially aggravated".
He intends to plead not guilty and is due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on June 2.
Action for Scotland had demanded the Scottish Government closes borders and transport hubs linking England and Scotland in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Mr Clerkin said at the time: “We are doing today’s protest to continue our call to the Scottish Government to close the border and all ports of entry for non essential travel from England to Scotland to protect the people Of Scotland from Covid-19.”
Police were alerted when the same banner was previously displayed at Glasgow Central as an objetion to the Scottish border remaining open after coronavirus cases increased in the north of England.
The same activists previously targeted the border at Berwick, where motorists were shocked to see people wearing Saltire face masks demanding the border was closed.
The protesters said they were not motivated by racism or xenophobia but believe closed borders could eliminate the virus in Scotland by the end of August.
Before the Berwick protest, Nicola Sturgeon insisted there isn't an "anti-English bone in her body" after concerns about the border protests.
The First Minister reminded the public she comes from "English stock" - her granny - when questioned about anti-English rhetoric affecting Scottish businesses and tourism.
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