Lawyers concerned by plans to ban activists from gathering at Holyrood
Three members of Extinction Rebellion Scotland who have climbed on to Holyrood, the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, and draped a banner reading "Choose Oil or Choose Life" from an overhang above the public entrance in a protest against fossil fuels in October 2020
SERIOUS concerns about the freedom to protest in Scotland have been raised by lawyers and others in the public sphere after Holyrood announced plans which could ban activists from gathering at the Scottish Parliament.
In a letter to the Home Office, presiding officer Alison Johnstone has asked for the Edinburgh building and the surrounding area to be designated as a protected site in the interests of national security.
At present, the police have limited powers to intervene if no substantive offence takes place, such as protesters making a prolonged noise outside the entrances.
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