A Glasgow MSP critcised for his views on loyalist marches has called for the number of parades scheduled to take place in the city to be cut.
John Mason, Shettleston SNP MSP, said that the public and businesses were "frustrated" by the number of marches and called on Nicola Sturgeon to ensure there were fewer on the city's streets.
Last Saturday, there were clashes in the city centre at a march to remember Bloody Sunday in Derry, in Northern Ireland in 1972, when it was met with counter protests by loyalist and right wing groups along the route.
A police officer was injured during the demonstration.
Mr Mason asked Ms Sturgeon "Can she give assurances the number of marches will be reduced?"
It comes just weeks after Mason was the centre of a socila media storm after suggesting he would not speak up for constituents who support loyalist parades.
The First Minister said that she supported Police Scotland in dealing with the marches and any protests.
READ MORE: SNP MSP urged to quit after refusing to speak for Unionist constituents
She added: "Peaceful protest" was part of democracy but that "violent sectarian disruption has no place in our society."
She added it was "unacceptable what we saw on Saturday" and there needs to be a "balance between the rights of marchers and the rights of the community."
She said she supproted the city council in its review of parades and processions to come up with a solution.
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