Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Shocking’ and ‘unacceptable’ scenes: Scottish Tory Leader shows support for women following Sarah Everard vigil

Reclaim These Streets protest in London.

Douglas Ross has said he is appalled by the actions of the Metropolitan Police after officers made numerous arrests at a vigil in London over the weekend.

The Moray MP described scenes at Clapham Common in South London, where hundreds gathered on Saturday evening following the death of Sarah Everard, as “shocking” and “unacceptable”.

The organised demonstration, under the Reclaim These Streets banner, took place close to where Ms Everard was last seen alive as she walked home from a friend’s house on March 3.

Sarah Everard

Despite being illegal under Covid-19 lockdown regulations, women proceeded to gather at the park’s bandstand after police refused to give the organisers a permit.

What started as a peaceful protest soon turned violent as police trampled flowers and candles laid out in tribute whilst trying to silence women speaking out in her memory.

Speaking on BBC’s Good Morning Scotland, Douglas Ross said: “I think the scenes we saw in London were shocking and the Met Commissioner has accepted that it was not an appropriate way to police those protests.

“At the heart of this it was women, because they didn’t feel safe.

Reclaim These Streets protest in London.

“To then see the actions of the Metropolitan Police, for women who were campaigning and protesting on such an important issue, it was unacceptable.

“No one can look at those scenes at the weekend and not be appalled by what they saw.”

Should Cressida Dick resign?

🎙Commissioner Cressida Dick: All my thoughts and prayers are with Sarah’s family and her loved ones.I do appeal to people to express their sadness and their solidarity and their really strong feelings about women’s safety in other ways.#ReclaimTheseStreets | #SarahEverard

Posted by Metropolitan Police Service on Saturday, 13 March 2021

Pressure has been mounting on Britain’s most senior police chief to resign following widespread outrage over officers manhandling women at the London rally.

An independent inquiry has been ordered by the policing inspectorate and will analyse the actions made by Cressida Dick – with the report is due in a fortnight.

Asked if the Metropolitan police commissioner should resign, Mr Ross said: “I don’t think that is for me… the focus right now should be on seeing what the issues were and trying to resolve them.

Contrasting images: League winners and vigil protestors

Social media erupted over the weekend with many online users comparing the stark differences in policing from the vigil to that of Rangers fans who gathered in Glasgow to celebrate their team’s recent Scottish League title win.

With Celtic hosting the newly crowned league winners on Sunday, the Old Firm is potentially in doubt, however Mr Ross – a professional referee – believes if both teams are professional it should go ahead.

He said: “I believe both these clubs have a lot of experience both at home and abroad, dealing with difficult fixtures and high-pressure matches.

“Whether at Celtic Park, Ibrox or Hampden they have all been conducted in an extremely professional way by the clubs.

“I think the clubs working together with the authorities will be able to host the match this weekend.”