Scotland’s First Minister brands protesters ‘shameful’ as police head off major clash in Glasgow

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Scotland’s First Minister has branded protesters &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;utterly shameful” as police were able to avert a major clash with an unknown group&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Hundreds of people descended on George Square in Glasgow to call for the statue of Metropolitan Police founder Robert Peel to stay in place in an event organised by a group called the Loyalist Defence League&comma; after a protest was organised to call for its removal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The original protest&comma; organised by the Glasgow Youth Art Collective&comma; was postponed due to what organisers say was a lack of access to the square and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;police targeting activists”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The First Minister welcomed the cancellation of the protest&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At the daily coronavirus press briefing&comma; the Nicola Sturgeon added&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Violent protest is never acceptable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I say to anyone that has found themselves on the streets of Glasgow in an altercation with other groups or with the police&comma; that they should really take a long hard look at themselves&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;That is not acceptable behaviour at any time&comma; but at this time of crisis that the country faces&comma; I think it’s particularly shameful behaviour&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A small group of people&comma; whose affiliation is not known&comma; could be seen coming down North Hanover Street prompting hundreds of counter-protesters to begin running towards the group before police were able to get in between the two&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Missiles could be seen flying between the two groups as police&comma; with their batons drawn&comma; formed a line across the street&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The unknown group were forced back up North Hanover Street&comma; away from the square&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Police Scotland confirmed the group is not believed to be affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement&comma; which has been protesting across the country in recent weeks after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There were no reported arrests as a result of the altercations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The First Minister said it was still an &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;ongoing incident” but that she had every confidence in Police Scotland to keep the peace&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Press and photographers covering the protest were repeatedly told by protesters to stop taking pictures and video&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Chief Superintendent Alan Murray said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Police Scotland can confirm that officers were aware of a disturbance near George Square&comma; Glasgow today&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;At this time the incident does not appear to be connected to a Black Lives Matter protest&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Glasgow Youth Art Collective said on its Facebook page&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We attempted to have a peaceful protest today in city in the style of a public consultation for the people of Glasgow to decide what would be best to happen to the racist and anti-working class statues of George Square&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Due to the police targeting activists before we were able to gather and no easy access to the square&comma; we have decided to postpone today’s demo&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Responding to the statement from the organiser&comma; Mr Murray said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Police will always facilitate peaceful protest where practical and safe to do so&comma; but overall public safety of all those concerned is a key consideration&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68e332439e416">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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