£180K BILL FOR DAY OF SHAME
Blight of sectarianism is bleeding taxpayers dry
THE bill for policing a day of marches that saw sectarian violence on the streets came to nearly £180,000, the Record can reveal.
About 400 police officers were called in to keep Irish Republican sympathisers apart from Loyalists in Glasgow last month.
The Scottish Police Federation said the public were losing out.
A DAY of shame that saw sectarian disorder on the streets of Glasgow has forced taxpayers to pay more than £176,000 in police costs, the Daily Record can reveal.
About 400 police officers were deployed on September 7 to monitor parades by Irish Republican groups Cairde Na Heireann (Calton Republicans) and Friends of IRPWA. The day was marred with sectarian clashes as Loyalist counter-demonstrators lined the streets, leading to violent disorder across the city. Figures obtained by the Record via a freedom of information request show it cost £176,439 to police the September 7 parades and the counter-demonstration, during which 11 people were arrested. Andrea MacDonald, chair of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “Officers were taken out of their communities to cover the marches, which means communities are losing out.”
Hundreds of officers – including mounted police, air support and specialist riot police – were drafted in to deal with the marches.
The measures were put in place after violence broke out at a event in Govan on August 30 organised by the James Connolly Republic Flute Band.
Following the September 7 marches, a city council committee banned all six Loyalist and Republican marches for the weekend of September 14 and 15.
Dave Scott, director of anti-sectarian charity Nil by Mouth, said the figures “hammer home the social cost but also the economic cost of these marches in Glasgow”.
He added: “Policing them and the violence round them is costing the taxpayer. The money could be spent elsewhere, to better effect.
“It’s imperative now that the council sits down to fix this problem. It is not just a Glasgow problem, it’s a problem for the whole of Scotland.”