A SCOTTISH government quango has been accused of acting unlawfully after denying the use of Holyrood Park in Edinburgh for "the biggest independence rally yet".
Historic Environment Scotland has refused to allow the use of the park saying they do not allow "political events of any nature" to take place on their properties.
But Martin Keating, convenor of Forward As One, one of the independent groups involved in the All Under One Banner protest has told the agency that the decision breaches the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to freedom of expression, thought and conscience and freedom of assembly.
He says the HES is classified as a public authority and so pursuant to the Human Rights Act 1998, it is "unlawful for a public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with a Convention right".
He has told the agency in a letter: “Unfortunately the ‘political neutrality’ of a public authority is not one of the reasons for derogation of the fundamental rights and freedoms of those seeking to utilise Holyrood Park.
"There is no provision in law which prevents the use of Holyrood Park, certainly not one which specifies specific provisions for your partisan neutrality.
"AUOB has consistently and openly stated that its events are the engagement of their fundamental human rights under law."
He argued the HES was bound to expect some disruption and enable the protesters to engage their rights.
"Denying such rights would be an unacceptable derogation as the refusals of use would be outside of any of the justifiable reason for derogation of those rights.
"Denial of fundamental rights and freedoms under law, particularly considering this particular site is right next to the Scottish Parliament, is not the sort of message that the HES wants to send to the general public. "As a public authority, the HES should be seeking to send the message that it seeks to protect and enhance the rights of the general public."
He suggested the HES could resolve the matter by issuing a public statement that while it take no view on the partisan politics of the event itself that it has a duty to enable freedom of expression. The organisers could then reciprocate and than them for allowing them to exercise their "democratic rights".
"This, I think you would agree is a reasonable and proportional compromise which protects both the impartiality of the HES and allowing the HES to promote the fact that all are welcome at the site, while allowing the event to go ahead Following the HES decision, organisers also appealed for a change of heart on safety grounds as the route from Edinburgh castle to Holyrood had already been agreed by Police Scotland and Edinburgh Council.
It is estimated around 35,000 people are expected to turn up to the event on Saturday, October 6, with no other venue nearby that could hold so many people.
All Under One Banner have urged their Facebook followers to protest against the decision of HES.
HES told AUOB in an email: "As a non-departmental public body Historic Environment Scotland must remain politically neutral at all times and would therefore not permit an event of the nature that has been described to take place on one of our Properties in Care (PiC), in this case Holyrood Park.
"Unfortunately we must turn down political events of any stripe and your event would fall into this category.
Longmore House, the headquarters of Historic Environment Scotland
"Historic Environment Scotland is willing to accommodate the part of your march that would use our road network between Horse Wynd through to Holyrood Gait, however any staging, branding and other static presence would have to be placed off the PiC area.
"I hope you can consider an alternative option for your event, and please let me know if you would like any further information from us."
But Mr Keating in his letter to HES added:"You have indicated, by your own volition that you are denying the application on the basis that it is politically partisan and that the HES is trying to ensure its public perception of neutrality. The problem is that it is common knowldge that the park has been utilised for many other events.
"This means that the HES is acting in a manner which treats non-partisan events more favourably than it treats politically partisan events. Political belief being a protected characteristic means that the HES is engaging in discrimination against such partisan events."
He added: "The fundamental reason for requesting the use of this land is due to the fact it is situated next to the Scottish legislator and the proximity to the Parliament building....
"It is therefore not appropriate from that perspective to advise them to seek somewhere else to hold such an event. Doing so would be a derogation of their rights."
HES said: "We want to make it clear that the march will still continue as planned through the road network within the Park between Horse Wynd through to Holyrood Gait. This has been facilitated by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) alongside Police Scotland and City of Edinburgh Council.
"However, we have not granted permission for the set up of stalls, staging, branding and other static presence within Holyrood Park. As a non-departmental public body, HES must remain politically neutral at all times and we do not permit political events of any nature to take place within our Properties in Care."
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