Glasgow's election declarations descended into chaos after candidates refused to make speeches on the same platform as the BNP when the result was announced.
As the returning officer announced that Labour's Margaret Curran had taken Glasgow East back from the SNP, and invited her up to the podium to make her victory speech, Ms Curran stood her ground. Standing to the immediate left of the podium was British National Party candidate Joseph Finnie, and Ms Curran was seen to shout: "I'm not making a speech standing next to him."
Ms Curran then walked off the stage followed quickly by the rest of the candidates, to loud cheers from the audience who gathered at the SECC to watch the count.
An angry mob later penned in Mr Finnie and it required the efforts of police officers to prevent the scene turning violent. The BNP candidate, who polled 296, held up two fingers in an apparent call for peace, but it was met by several two-fingered salutes of another fashion and shouts of: "Scum! Scum!"
The disturbance almost erupted into violence when one onlooker appeared to push Mr Finnie, who immediately turned to react and had to be restrained by police.
Speaking following her dramatic exit from the stage, Ms Curran said: "I have not taken the privilege of speaking from the platform. It has been such a decisive victory for Glasgow and for Labour but I am not prepared to share a platform with the BNP, who are a disgrace to Glasgow and a disgrace to Scotland."
Ms Curran's stance was met by shouts of, "Good for you, Margaret!" and applause from supporters.
Ms Curran won the seat from the SNP's John Mason with a majority of almost 12,000 after losing a previous by-election battle in 2008 to him. Ms Curran added: "This is a resounding victory for Glasgow Labour and a damning indictment of the SNP. Glasgow and Scotland are rejecting the SNP because they have failed us profoundly. Labour has the answers and we will not stand by the side of people who will not stand up for Scotland or for Glasgow."
Scotsman
Showing posts with label Glasgow east. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glasgow east. Show all posts
May 07, 2010
July 23, 2008
Neo-Nazis have threatened to kill me, says election candidate
A candidate in the Glasgow East by-election says a neo-Nazi gang has threatened to kill her.
Scottish Socialist Party co-founder Frances Curran claims she was formally warned by police that her home could be attacked.
Curran, who has sent her eight-year-old son to stay with relatives, said: "I was told by my neighbours that the police have come knocking three times during the day. I was contacted later and they said that a threat had been received, specific to me and my home. They said no other candidates had been targeted. They wouldn't specify who made the threat but I was given the clear idea it was from some kind of neo-Nazi group."
The advice from Strathclyde Police is believed to have been an "Osman Warning" - given out only when credible information is received that violence is a genuine possibility.
Curran said officers from the force's Operational Support Unit advised her to be on her guard and promised her home in Partick, Glasgow, would be watched. And she vowed she would not be intimidated into pulling out of tomorrow's poll.
She said: "I am concerned but it will be business as usual for me. I didn't take the police up on their offer of an inspection of my home security but I'll be watching my back."
Curran, 47, is joint national spokesperson of the SSP with Colin Fox and was one of six socialist MSPs elected for the West of Scotland at the 2003 Holyrood election - but lost her seat in 2007. In 2005, she played a leading role in protests outside the G8 summit at Gleneagles. She has also campaigned against Trident nuclear weapons and was due to join striking civil servants at the Glasgow passport office this morning.
The "Osman Warning" came from the case of Paul Paget-Lewis, a teacher who wounded a former pupil, Ahmet Osman, to whom he had formed a disturbing attachment, and killed his father, Ali, and two others.
Last night, a Strathclyde Police spokesman said he had no information on Curran's claims.
Daily Record
Scottish Socialist Party co-founder Frances Curran claims she was formally warned by police that her home could be attacked.
Curran, who has sent her eight-year-old son to stay with relatives, said: "I was told by my neighbours that the police have come knocking three times during the day. I was contacted later and they said that a threat had been received, specific to me and my home. They said no other candidates had been targeted. They wouldn't specify who made the threat but I was given the clear idea it was from some kind of neo-Nazi group."
The advice from Strathclyde Police is believed to have been an "Osman Warning" - given out only when credible information is received that violence is a genuine possibility.
Curran said officers from the force's Operational Support Unit advised her to be on her guard and promised her home in Partick, Glasgow, would be watched. And she vowed she would not be intimidated into pulling out of tomorrow's poll.
She said: "I am concerned but it will be business as usual for me. I didn't take the police up on their offer of an inspection of my home security but I'll be watching my back."
Curran, 47, is joint national spokesperson of the SSP with Colin Fox and was one of six socialist MSPs elected for the West of Scotland at the 2003 Holyrood election - but lost her seat in 2007. In 2005, she played a leading role in protests outside the G8 summit at Gleneagles. She has also campaigned against Trident nuclear weapons and was due to join striking civil servants at the Glasgow passport office this morning.
The "Osman Warning" came from the case of Paul Paget-Lewis, a teacher who wounded a former pupil, Ahmet Osman, to whom he had formed a disturbing attachment, and killed his father, Ali, and two others.
Last night, a Strathclyde Police spokesman said he had no information on Curran's claims.
Daily Record
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