THE independent watchdog on policing during the pandemic has cleared Police Scotland of bias over two recent mass gatherings in Glasgow.

The Independent Advisory Group (IAG) led by QC John Scott said the force treated both anti-immigration protestors and Rangers fans appropriately.

It followed suggestions that officers had treated a gathering of fans in George Square more harshly than a protest in Kenmure Street in Pollokshields.

However Mr Scott said: “Bias played no part in operational decisions.”

He said the two events were treated differently, but that was because the Rangers gathering had turned violent, with officers being injured.

He said: “That alone should be sufficient to distinguish the two events and explain the policing approach, despite attempts by some to indulge in ‘whataboutery’, including some politicians, who should know better.”

READ MORE: Greens call on Scots to ‘resist’ Home Office over immigration after Kenmure Street raid

The findings are included in a letter to Martyn Evans, chair of the force’s oversight body, the Scottish Police Authority, which will discuss it tomorrow.

Hundreds of people surrounded an Immigration Enforcement van in Kenmure Street on May 13 after a Home Office dawn raid to deport two Indian men.

After an eight-hour stand-off, Sumit Sehdev and Lakhvir Singh were released from the van, however Home Secretary Priti Patel has vowed to carry on with such raids.

Two days later, around 15,000 Rangers fans descended on Ibrox Stadium to celebrate their team’s Scottish Premiership title win.

Thousands then marched to George Square, leading to scenes of vandalism and disorder, with more than two dozen arrests and five police officers injured.

Senior SNP politicians called the Rangers scenes “appalling”, but praised the actions of the community in Pollokshields for standing up to the Home Office.

It led to calls for then Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf to resign, and accusations that he and Nicola Sturgeon had allowed mob rule to prevail in the Kenmure Street case because it suited the SNP's political agenda to have a row about immigration with Westminster.

The IAG discussed both events with Chief Superintendent Mark Sutherland, Divisional Commander of Greater Glasgow, last week.

"Chief Superintendent Sutherlandconfirmed that the pandemic and related regulations were considered, albeit, as matters developed, other considerations were prioritised," Mr Scott reported.

The watchdog also heard from one of the IAG's own members, solicitor Aamer Anwar, who played a key part in the event in Kenmure Street.

"Aamer offered his experience and views of those events and assisted us with discussion," Mr Scott said.

Mr Scott said it appeared that “a lack of appropriate planning and communication by the Home Office... served to exacerbate the situation” in Kenmure Street.

He said the Rangers gathering was allowed to continue for several hours, despite some minor disturbances and nuisance, and the police response was only escalated “when the behaviour of the crowd degenerated into significant aggression and violence”.

Mr Scott said: “Members of the public have expressed a range of views on the apparent tolerance of gatherings in Glasgow contrary to coronavirus regulations. 

“Some have suggested that neither event should have been allowed to develop into a large gathering. That is to ignore the right of peaceful assembly which, especially outdoors, should be given considerable weight, even in a pandemic.

“Some have compared the two events...  and suggested that Rangers supporters were treated differently than the Kenmure Street protestors.

“They are right but really only at a point when public order considerations required action to prevent serious injury and damage to property.

“In fact, serious injury was suffered by police officers and others on 15 May.

“That alone should be sufficient to distinguish the two events and explain the policing approach, despite attempts by some to indulge in 'whataboutery', including some politicians, who should know better. “

Mr Scott went on: “Some political and media portrayal of events in Glasgow this month has used the differences in policing approaches to the different events to suggest bias on the part of Police Scotland.

"Our work confirms us in our view that bias played no part in operational decisions. 

“Public confidence and police legitimacy can nonetheless be impacted by such portrayals.

“We are of the view that the overall approach to the policing of these events in Glasgow

in May 2021 was informed by, and consistent with, relevant human rights principles and considerations, in particular, lawfulness, necessity and proportionality.

“Different outcomes in the different events do not undermine that conclusion."

Raising a warning about the increased tensions over the independence debate, Mr Scott added: "The best protection - both for the integrity of the rule of law, and for the protection of rights Of every citizen in Scotland - lies in the operational independence of policing, and its ability to rise above media and political noise and make decisions based on the law and public safety.

"That operational independence may be an important point of constancy in a period of increasingly unsettled constitutional politics.”