THE co-leader of the Scottish Greens has lashed out at people attempting to draw comparisons between the anti-deportation protest which took place in Glasgow last week and the “bunch of thugs rampaging” after Rangers’ league win.
Patrick Harvie said he had “absolutely zero time” for people trying to create equivalency between the Home Office protest and the Rangers celebrations.
Although he did not name anybody in his tweets, the Green MSP may have been thinking of Tory Holyrood representatives such as Murdo Fraser, who has come under heavy fire for comparing the two events in recent days.
Fraser was widely condemned after he tweeted ahead of the weekend urging Rangers fans to “celebrate responsibly”, but added: “Sadly I fear such calls are undermined by some politicians actively encouraging street protests ... Can’t be one rule for some and another for others.”
READ MORE: 'Coward' Murdo Fraser slammed for tweet condemning pro-Palestine protesters
Former Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw also drew comparisons between the two events, writing on Twitter: “Covid doesn’t pick and choose which gatherings it spreads in.
“Why does the Scottish Government?”
Kenmure Street saw a spontaneous protest against Priti Patel’s Home Office’s immigration policy attract more than a thousand members of the local community.
The crowd, which included mothers with children and prominent human rights campaigners, eventually secured the release of two men who had been taken in a dawn raid.
It was these people that Tories such as Fraser and an unnamed Home Office source have called a “mob”.
Elsewhere, George Square saw rioting and violence over the weekend as around 15,000 Rangers fans celebrated their team’s league victory, just as they had previously done in early March.
Police said 28 arrests were made with “many more” to come, and that five officers had been injured, including bones broken and teeth knocked out.
The vast majority of people in Glasgow are utterly sick of whole areas becoming no-go zones, where people have to stay away or close their businesses to protect their safety, while vandalism, violence and anti-Irish/anti-Catholic bigotry is given free rein.
— Patrick Harvie 🇪🇺🌈 (@patrickharvie) May 17, 2021
Hitting out at the people who had been drawing an equivalence between the two, Green co-leader Patrick Harvie wrote: “Absolutely zero time for those trying to compare Kenmure St, where a community felt forced to risk their own safety to protect their neighbours, with a bunch of thugs rampaging through Glasgow, trashing George Square again, for no reason other than their team won a football game.
READ MORE: Kirsty Strickland: There was nothing normal about Rangers fans' siege of Glasgow
“The vast majority of people in Glasgow are utterly sick of whole areas becoming no-go zones, where people have to stay away or close their businesses to protect their safety, while vandalism, violence and anti-Irish/anti-Catholic bigotry is given free rein.”
Rangers fans were heard singing sectarian songs during the disorder, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon condemning those who acted in “such a thuggish, sectarian and selfish manner”.
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