SNP forced to suspend party members over Murphy abuse
TWO ringleaders of an ugly protest that led to scuffles in Glasgow city centre were yesterday suspended by the SNP.
The party was forced to take action hours after Nicola Sturgeon insisted those involved in the aggressive scenes on Monday ‘weren’t acting on behalf of the SNP’.
Nationalist MSP Sandra White had even claimed no party members had taken part in the protest that forced Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy and comedian Eddie Izzard to flee in a car.
But yesterday the party was forced into an embarrassing U-turn, when it announced the suspension of two of those involved, Piers Doughty-Brown and James Scott.
Two young children at the rally were l eft i n tears and their mother has told the Scottish Daily Mail they are still traumatised. Emma Busby, 26, said Harry, four, and Leah, eight, had been looking forward to meeting Izzard as voices one of the main characters in their favourite film, animated smash hit Cars 2.
Instead, they saw ‘the aggressive side of nationalism’.
Yesterday, the First Minister was challenged on why her party attracted so many ‘thugs’.
‘ We don’t,’ she replied, ‘I condemn the scenes we saw.’
At the event in St Enoch Square, shouts of ‘Traitor’, ‘Judas’ and ‘ Warmongering scum’, were screamed by protesters and a photographer and TV reporter were pushed over. The 20-strong mob was led by hard-Left, antiausterity activist Sean Clerkin, who is not a member of the SNP – although he has stood for the party in the past.
Two other ringleaders identified themselves to the Scottish Daily Mail as Mr Scott, leader of Scottish Resistance, and Mr Doughty-Brown, who has repeatedly targeted Labour politicians at public engagements.
An SNP spokesman said: ‘ Mr Doughty-Brown has been placed under administrative suspension from the SNP, as was James Scott. The SNP will always act on these matters – unlike Labour, who have still taken no action against senior activist Ian Smart for his vile tweets.’
Mr Smart, who is not an election candidate, has been accused of calling the SNP ‘fascist scum’.
On Monday, protesters started chanting ‘ Red Tories Out’ as around 30 Labour activists gathered in St Enoch Square.
As Mr Murphy and Mr Izzard walked towards the crowd, the protesters ran to confront the Scottish Labour l eader and rammed cardboard placards directly in his face.
Several Labour aides rushed to protect the former Scottish Secretary, physically dragging the protesters away.
Two people shouted through loudhailers and a protester on a bike fitted with speakers blared out loud music.
Mrs Busby, who is constituency secretary and election agent for Airdrie and Shotts Labour MP Pamela Nash, told the Mail yesterday: ‘The kids didn’t see the scuffle, but when Jim and Eddie got to the platform, everyone pressed up against us and it got very tight.
‘It got very, very noisy, very quickly. Leah was really upset and I couldn’t move and get them out of there. I was a bit intimidated by how loud it was and how cramped it was.’
Mrs Busby said it took a long time to calm her children down and Leah was still upset.
She added: ‘It was so unnecessarily intimidating. I thought it was going to be such a fun thing I could share with my kids, but it just turned ugly.’
On BBC Radio 2’ s Jeremy Vine show, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘Everyone has a right to take their case to the Scottish people and be listened to.
‘Incidentally, the ringleader of the protest against Jim Murphy yesterday has, on three separate occasions, disrupted constituency surgeries of mine. So the idea this has got something to do with the SNP is just wrong. We should have civilised debates.’
But Shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran said: ‘ Nicola Sturgeon said the appalling scenes on the streets of Glasgow were nothing to do with the SNP, yet she has suspended the SNP member who led the disruption. What happened was the ugly face of nationalism.’
Mr Doughty-Brown said the protest had been designed to expose a politician who has ‘lied, lied and lied’.
Mr Scott said: ‘Scottish Resistance was set up to get freedom for Scotland. British imperialism doesn’t work.’
‘Unnecessarily intimidating’ ‘The ugly face of nationalism’