POLICE Scotland has signalled its readiness to ramp up officer numbers at this weekend's Orangefest event, with the backlash to its staging continuing.
As the Orange Order clears the final hurdle to holding the event, billed as a celebration of the organisation's culture and heritage, the police said that it re-appraised the resources it may need on the day.
The force has categorised the event as low risk but said at a meeting of Glasgow City Council's licensing committee that due to the volume of online commentary and opposition it would have more resources available if required.
The event, which will take place on Saturday in Glasgow's George Square, has been billed as an "opportunity to gain an understanding of the cultural heritage and modus operandi of the Orange Lodge as a whole".
Organisers, who have branded themselves an "ethnic minority", said they wanted to show the Orange Order was about more "than marching up and down the streets".
But it has been met with fierce social media opposition, with some even calling for the organisation and events to be banned.
The licensing committee has agreed to grant organisers a licence at a meeting today, with three Labour, three SNP and one Green councillors voting the event through without division.
The committee heard from representatives from the Orange Order and the police before reaching their decision.
No extra conditions have been attached to the licence.
A city council spokesman said: "Members heard from organisers and police and granted a temporary public entertainment licence with standard conditions."
Police Scotland would not comment on the licensing meeting but a spokeswoman added: "We are aware of the planned event which will be policed appropriately.
"Officers have been liaising with the organisers to ensure any disruption to the people in the city is kept to a minimum.
"Officers will assisting with traffic restrictions during the parade. People driving in and around the town centre are advised to follow the advice and directions given, and to leave extra time for their journey or to consider alternative routes for the duration of the event."
Meanwhile, following reports it had accepted an invitation to the event, the Muslim Council of Scotland said this was not the case and that it would not be attending.
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