PROTESTORS occupying Glasgow’s George Square have lodged an appeal against a 48-hour eviction notice issued by a Sheriff.
Around 19 tents have been erected outside the City Chambers in an apparent protest against homelessness.
Glasgow City Council was granted a decree at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Wednesday to evict the group within two days.
The council’s lawyer, Kenny McDonald, said that while individuals had the right to stage a protest they did not have the legal right to occupy a publicly owned space and Sheriff Gillian Bryson agreed.
However, the occupiers have lodged an appeal against Wednesday’s ruling.
Glasgow City Council said the eviction notice stands and any appeal will run concurrently. The 48-hour deadline will come into force tomorrow afternoon, when occupiers are expected to be served with the eviction papers by sheriff officers.
If they refuse to leave, the council said there would be a "step-by-step" process to remove the camp with police assistance.
A spokesman said: “The council has secured an eviction order against those currently occupying George Square without permission.
“We urge those occupying the square to observe this eviction order and quit the square as soon as possible.”
The camp claim they are providing a refuge for the city’s homeless and acting as a collection point for food.
However the council said most had refused “all assistance offered" and staff had been exposed to verbal abuse.
There has been some support for the protestors from the public.
Yvonne Reid Hutcheson posted on Facebook: “Why should they be shifted , they are raising awareness of the plight of homeless folk in Glasgow."
However Lynn Gwa Speirs said: “We should help our own but not like this.....these do gooders have just wasted tax payers money as it’s had to go to court.
“Money which could have been used to go towards helping homeless."
Sheriff Bryson said the protestors had not provided any defence for their occupation of one area of George Square.
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel