FRINGE supporters of Alex Salmond have taken to social media to claim he is the victim of a conspiracy by the unionist state.
A number of so-called “cybernat” Twitter accounts have rushed to defend the ex-first minister from allegations of sexual misconduct.
Mr Salmond has been reported to the police over the claims, which relate to his behaviour towards two staff members in 2013.
He has strongly denied wrongdoing, claiming some of the allegations are “ridiculous”.
Nicola Sturgeon said the claims were “extremely difficult” to come to terms with but cannot be ignored or swept under the carpet.
But on Twitter, fringe nationalists and anonymous accounts have voiced a number of conspiracy theories.
One user called Mr Malky said the “attacks on Yes Facebook pages, independence-supporting websites and blogs…and Alex Salmond are not unconnected”.
He added: “The British state is terrified Scotland ends the 1707 union.”
Another account, @ChrisMcCusker67, suggested the claims were intentionally leaked to newspapers to attack the independence cause.
He added: “This stinks of #WillieMacrae & has MI5 written all over it.”
Willie MacRae was an SNP activist and Scottish lawyer who was found shot in the head after his car crashed in the Scottish highlands in 1985.
His death was officially ruled as suicide but conspiracies and claims he was murdered have persisted to this day.
Another account, @Scotlandscreams, said the allegations against Mr Salmond were “frankly ridiculous”.
It said: “Be aware the British state has no scruples and is morally bankrupt. The smear begins on the former FM Alex Salmond.”
Elsewhere, @Fions18 said the media is scared of Mr Salmond and would do anything to blacken his name.
A user called Ken Reid – tweeting under @1606kenreid – said: “And tonight the guns are pointed at Alex Salmond.
“Media speculation designed to discredit a proud Scot. My instinct is this stinks of establishment desperation to discredit a proud man.
“I so hate the MSM these days. The media fat cats have so much control it’s sick.”
Others suggested the allegations were part of a “dirty tricks” campaign by the establishment, or “unionist state harassment”.
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