FOLLOWING the debate about parades, I thought it would be interesting to let you know my experience in Glasgow at the weekend. Arriving early to watch the "Bloody Sunday" march leaving from Blythswood Square at 10am on January 22, I was standing at St George's Tron Church with three friends when several of Strathclyde Police's "finest" approached us in an aggressive fashion, asking where we were from. When we said we were from Glasgow, they informed us that we could provide our "details". After explaining that I was a law-abiding citizen, who attends church every week, I was asked what I was doing. I replied that I was waiting to observe the parade and wasn't going to cause any trouble.
The whole experience left me wondering what sort of country this is that we have created when a lawabiding Christian, who thought he was exercising his democratic right to stand on a pavement and observe a parade, is getting hassle from the police. The final insult of the day was that as I walked away from the police on my way home, not having waited to see the parade due to my state of shock, I observed the parade participants in "paramilitary" uniforms, protected by the police, waiting to begin their parade.
So whose civil rights are the police of this country here to protect ?
Dr Stephen Broadfoot Flat 3, 2 Campbell Street, Glasgow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article