War of words as Ibrox fan zone row deepens
THE leader of Glasgow City Council has refused to apologise after claiming Rangers and Labour politicians had been “knowingly exploiting sectarian division” during the fan zone row.
Susan Aitken hit back at claims that she had been the one “ramping up tensions” days before an Old Firm game earlier this year.
Ms Aitken was accused of working alongside deputy leader David McDonald and SNP councillor Stephen Dornan to stop Rangers holding a fan zone at the Ibrox Football Complex.
But she claimed that she had been the victim of “extremist abuse” from trolls since she became embroiled in the row. Labour councillor John Kane insisted that he was owed an apology for Twitter comments in September where Ms Aitken claimed councillors had been “stoking sectarianism”.
Mr Kane said: “I find that deeply upsetting. I don’t know why the leader doesn’t understand that ramping up an issue on social media, particularly in run up to Rangers v Celtic game, is entirely reckless.”
But the council leader hit back, insisting that she would take to social media in future if she was accused of having an agenda against Rangers.
She said: “I made the comment more than a week after comments were made by politicians of other parties making incorrect allegations against David McDonald and myself where it was claimed that we stopped the fan zone because of our football allegiances. I have been subjected to extremist abuse online and members of Mr McDonald’s family have also been on the receiving end of this extremism.”
Ms Aitken also hit out at Labour MSP Alasdair Morrison’s decision to retweet a post saying that both she and Mr McDonald had “hijacked” a licensing board process to overrule the fan zone in September. And she claimed it was an “orchestrated and deliberate” attempt to attack her and her SNP colleagues.
Ms Aitken, Mr McDonald and Mr Dornan are all subject of a complaint to the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland (CESPLS).