Scottish Government fear Sectarian attacks against Catholics and other religious minorities may endanger EU view of independent Scotland. ON Wednesday of this week, whether Church burning anti-catholic Scots and the rest of us want it or not, the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill better known as the Scottish Government’s anti-sectarian legislation aimed at targeting insulting songs at Football matches, will be waved through into law by the SNP’s majority vote in the Scottish Parliament (no doubt after a tumultuous debate) on the pretext of strengthening the powers of the Crown Office & Police to prosecute rising numbers of sectarian attacks against Roman Catholics and other religious minorities in Scotland.
However, it appears the motives for the bill’s violently quick passage are anything but clear, and nothing much to do with tackling crime with some now claiming the badly planned anti-bigot legislation, brought about at the instigation of Police Forces & Prosecutors (who themselves appear to be institutionally sectarian as well as corrupt), and seized on by the SNP as an appropriate pro-independence headliner targeting Unionism is more to do with cleaning up the historically high anti-catholic & anti-religious minority crime statistics to allow First Minister Alex Salmond to advance a particular part of his independence policy, that of joining the predominantly catholic European Union.
Speaking to Scottish Law Reporter over the weekend, a Crown Office insider claimed the real reason the ‘potentially dangerous’ historical statistics on anti-catholic crimes were shredded by Crown Office officials before they could be produced at the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee is more to do with the fact the current SNP Scottish Government feared any revelations of the now destroyed statistics could damage Scotland’s chances of being accepted by the EU as a stand alone member if it breaks away from the United Kingdom.
Within the now destroyed data, such was the level of reported anti-catholic crimes, the severity of the crimes, the lack of prosecutions, especially in sectarian complaints made against in some cases, still serving Police Officers & even COPFS staff, and the many questions the historical statistics on sectarian offences may have raised in debates at Holyrood, Scottish Ministers felt revealing the truth could lead to questions being raised in the EU over whether Scots authorities could handle sectarianism and prevent Scots based individuals & groups from spreading their hate message & criminal activity against Catholics & other religious minorities throughout the European Union.
The insider, who claims to have seen the now destroyed data which SLR reported on in an earlier article HERE, commented “If the information on sectarian crimes had been published rather than being destroyed on political orders, there would be no doubt in anyone’s mind the statistics would show Scotland is a dangerous place for Roman Catholics. The fear was if the figures got out, this would affect the SNP’s independence agenda and how the predominantly Catholic EU might view an independent Scotland asking for EU membership.”
The credible claims by insiders come on top of ample evidence to suggest that Police & Prosecutors have their own agenda to bring in the new anti-bigot legislation which will allow them to even-up the sectarian crime statistics by arresting more Catholics to blur the statistics, rather than tackling the root of the historically huge ant-catholic bigotry problem which has been endemic in Scotland for years. Scottish Law Reporter has covered the new bill in previous articles HERE, noting there are even allegations of sectarian jibes among the SNP’s own ranks, some of whom have proclaimed their own support for the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill and for the idea that more Catholics should be arrested to ‘even-up’ the figures.
While debate continues to rage on the anti-bigot legislation and the SNP’s true motives for waving it through the Parliament, some media organisations have privately acknowledged they are being pressurised more than ever NOT TO MENTION or report on crimes where sectarianism is thought to have played a role in what took place.
At least seven murders in the West of Scotland this year, some of young men, others involving family members, all widely reported in the press and on television are thought to have been motivated in some way by anti-catholic hate however as yet not one news report or newspaper article has mentioned the fact Police officers investigating the crimes viewed the possibility each incident had an element of sectarianism to it.
In other shocking incidents, the desecration of Roman Catholic churches in Scotland has continued to rise, with a recent report on STV news regarding an incident of vandalism of St Leonard's RC Church in East Kilbride which was so heavily sanitised, the incident as reported by the media took on a completely different view to the actual details of what is very much a sectarian crime, more accurately reported by Scots composer James MacMillan in the Telegraph, HERE.
Commenting on the sanitised STV report, Mr MacMillan said : In this report on the vandalisation of St Leonard's RC Church in East Kilbride certain details have been withheld. According to parish sources the vandals removed the statue of Our Lady and placed it on the altar where they covered it in paper and cloth and set it alight. Also, the Tabernacle – one of the most sacred objects in any Catholic Church was covered in graffiti. This was clearly a sectarian attack, motivated by the intense anti-Catholic attitudes which have so disfigured Scotland and continues to do so. The fact that a police spokesman, in full knowledge of the specific details of this assault, then claimed it bore no hallmarks of a sectarian incident, speaks volumes.
The details of the burning of the statue of Mary have since been confirmed through local sources.
Mr MacMillan went onto point out while Catholic Churches are being burned in Scotland and in Northern Ireland, none have been targeted in England, even during the Pope’s visit last year.
Other incidents such as the burning down of an empty priest’s house in High Valleyfield, Fife appear to have suffered from misinformation put out by the Police, who claimed at the time the fire was caused by an electrical fault. Yet the fire which burned down the parish house of St Serf’s Church in High Valleyfield near Dunfermline came immediately after death threats had been sent to priests in the archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.
Another incident where the Police appear to have misled the public occurred in Leslie Fife, where the local Roman Catholic Church St Mary Mother of God was burned to the ground. The Police immediately briefed the press about ‘music’ lyrics spray-painted on a wall nearby yet suspicions over the true nature of the crime pointed to connections to a major Orange walk taking place that same day in the area.
And in a twist to electronic data gathered by Police Forces across Scotland on many forums & websites which appear to spread online sectarian hate messages & racist abuse, it appears there will now be few if any prosecutions of “threatening communications”, due to the fact IP addresses, emails and other identifying traces left by those spreading sectarian abuse online have been traced back to computer networks used by Police, Prosecutors and even offices of the Scottish Government.
The electronic data gathered from internet providers by the authorities is also rumoured to implicate local Government offices across Scotland, several high profile public bodies, surprisingly, several well known law firms and even some Hospital computer networks.
23 comments:
Is there any chance any of these 'insiders' are going to come out in public and blow the whistle on any of this?
Your report presents a very disturbing, and many would say accurate, representation of the collusion between various organisations in an attempt to hide a problem which for decades has met with stonewalling and denial by the authorities.
Now we can add to that destruction of evidence and an attempt to pervert the course of Justice, which will of course be allowed to go unpunished by Alex Salmond and the SNP.
Your report, and the deafening silence which has attempted to disguise the base motives behind these attacks, reveals that protestant scotland has sadly long cherished a racist and bigoted religious outlook.
Just imagine the outcry if similar attacks had, and continued to be made on synagogues or mosques!
Jeanette Findlay
Lets see what the future brings.
This sounds so serious there should be an EU investigation of hate crimes against religious minorities in Scotland because it looks like the SNP have covered the whole thing up to plug their independence agenda.Who in their right mind wants a country like this joining their group?
Why is the SNP being targetted for a problem that has been around for hundreds of years? Why is the only party that is attempting to deal with the problem being accused of being part of the problem? Not good enough! The idea that we cannot even police our own country effectively is absolutely pathetic, even by Unionist standards. I have many Catholic friends and relatives throughout the length and breadth of Scotland, and not once have I heard them tell me that they felt threatened. I won't deny there is a problem that has to be dealt with; thus the pending legislation, but grow-up, stop exaggerating it and making it party political. This is reminiscent of Mississippi Burning, and I don't believe that Scotland is institutionally sectarian.
Richard McHarg
The majority view of the SNP's anti-bigot legislation is that it will only make the problem worse not better unless of course you support arresting more Catholics to even up the stats like some in the SNP do as a solution which allows the Scottish Gov to claim they are arresting as many Protestants as Catholics.
Anyway.Why order the historical stats destroyed?
Something to hide? and for what purpose?
How would they know they were arresting a 'Catholic'? Is someone making assumptions about Celtic fans? We're not all RC, Irish and IRA-loving. Perhaps evening up the police, the judiciary and SFA would be a good start?
Hey McHarg
You better read the story again because institutionally sectarian Scots are burning down churches and the SNP have said BUGGER ALL about this until now when it suits them to use it for PARTY POLITICAL GAIN!
Who is it who needs to grow up?
Legal Beagle I'm taking you to task on your last comment.
You just sounded off like one of the Religiously Persecuted Posse there when you "invented a lie" by claiming that some within the SNP's ranks supported police arresting more people belonging to one denomination of christianity than the other. Who exactly are these people that support such a warped and criminal exercise? Come on, you spoke with such 'conviction' (pardon the pun). Name names, who are these people? Or are you another one of the attention seekers that love the thought of being at the centre of some quasi romantic imagined 'struggle' against superior govt forces? LoL.
The Labour Party held almost every seat in Scotland from local to national government for the last 100 years - when most of religious hate crimes would've been prevalent - Why are you having a go at the only political party recognised (by even the Catholic Church in Scotland) to be doing something about bigotry in Scotland when their opponents kept their distance from it for over a century? Grow up! (or sober up)
So the secret is out - the sectarians are among the Police and public services we all depend on yet the SNP sycophant clowns still come out to support their leader and proclaim there is not a bigot problem in Scotland!
If there is no problem we don't need new laws Mr Salmond!
Of course I don't support the arrest of more Catholics to even up numbers. If people are suspected of an offence, they should be charged, irrespective of who they are. I would certainly be interested to find out whether there is any truth in your claims. If there is, on the face of it, it is unacceptable. I will do some digging.
where are these burning churches ,and why dont you have the courage of your convictions and come out in the open with these allegations
Prolitbullshit you havent been keeping up with the news have you
http://fansagainstcriminalisation.blogspot.com/2011/11/michael-mcmahon-msp-on-christine-graham.html
Michael McMahon MSP on the Christine Graham allegations
"As Convenor of the Justice Committee Christine Grahame has a responsibility to ensure that the Scottish Government is doing all it can to protect people from sectarianism and racism and any questions raised about her position on this matter must be cleared up as soon as possible. Given the nature of these allegations and the concerns that such an allegation raise I would urge Christine Grahame to consider her position on the Justice Committee until such times as any investigation into this matter has been completed.Questions already exist about Ms Grahame's neutrality while considering the so called Bigot Bill as she appears to believe that more Catholics need to be arrested to even things up in society. She clearly cannot be viewed as an impartial participant in the process of scrutinising this controversial legislation and while these allegations remain under investigation she should not be steering the Committee's interrogation of the Government's unpopular proposal"
If the church burnings go up in Europe we know who to blame - Salmond's independent Scot Nationalist state.
Funny.We used to have a Nationalist State that burned churches in Europe and just look at the damage they did!
Not again PLEASE!
This article is SPOT ON.PERFECT.
Hey Proletarian (another keyboard warrior by the sounds of it with a chip on his shoulder) why dont you go ask the Police & Lord Advocate themselves? The Offensive singing & scratching your arse bill is their invention and the SNP fell right into it.Someone else already made an important point that the SNP have said damn all about sectarianism in Scotland EVER, actually I cannot remember any SNP msp ranting on about sectarian attacks until Salmond pulled this bill from out of his .... just to criminalise anyone he felt might be a threat to his precious independence agenda.
You could also try asking Christine Grahame about her stance on the statistics, which seems to have already been commented on by msps.
Michael McMahon MSP on the Christine Graham allegations
http://fansagainstcriminalisation.blogspot.com/2011/11/michael-mcmahon-msp-on-christine-graham.html
Questions already exist about Ms Grahame's neutrality while considering the so called Bigot Bill as she appears to believe that more Catholics need to be arrested to even things up in society. She clearly cannot be viewed as an impartial participant in the process of scrutinising this controversial legislation and while these allegations remain under investigation she should not be steering the Committee's interrogation of the Government's unpopular proposal"
Dont go making this party political Mr Proliterian because its not it affects everyone and you sectarian deniers look like you are defending attacks on churches and murders in Scotland which are clearly sectarian.
Oh my goodness the SNP dont have an answer for this all they can say is where are the burning churches when it happens in their own country!
My goodness the SNP are definitely NOT ready for Europe with all this sectarianism marching around Scotland oh and thats another point why is it not ok to sing at football matches but its ok to hold a sectarian march near a church which is then firebombed?
The EU must be reading this with considerable FEAR
I know for a fact that the church I was married in, St John & St Columba, Rosyth was desecrated very badly on 3 occasions that I am aware of and I have been an absentee for many years.
By and large the damage was not reported. One time there were letters painted on the church in 4ft high white paint.
At about the same time (1970) the mayor of Nablus was visiting Dundee and someone had scrawled a swastika on a wall that was barely visable and about 6in high. Cue massive media coverage.
The Scots can't face up to the residual anti-RC and Irish sentiment that lingers from the 19th Century.
It would seem to be alive and well in the police, government and COPFS with their shredders.
Dear Me.
Scotland is a dangerous place and the SNP who never said a thing about sectarianism until now dont want to face any tough questions in case the EU Catholics decide they dont want their churches burned too.
Taking Nat controlled Scotland into the EU would be like trying to tame the Vikings.Non Merci!
This is a very important point.There are people here trying to pin the blame for sectarianism on Labour but in all the years the SNP have been in the Parliament or at London I have never heard a peep out of them about damaged churches or sectarian murders or chants at football matches until now.
It doesnt take much to realise the SNP bringing up sectarianism as their own device to target Rangers and Celtic supporters is linked to their own aims of independence and total control just like nationalists of old.
God help us we must all make the sign of the cross to face the likes of the SNP who are getting worse than Labour now.
Dear Me.
Its even worse than I thought.
I can find no mention of any SNP msp or mp ever raising the sectarian subject on behalf of Scotland or a constituent until now.
Not one.
Where have they been all these years?
In denial or hiding the facts because sectarianism is Scotland's dirty big secret?
Proletarian is so full of crap he must have the FM right up his backside
"The Labour Party held almost every seat in Scotland from local to national government for the last 100 years - when most of religious hate crimes would've been prevalent'
So why did your SNP buddies destroy all the data which would have showed all this sectarianism and why have your SNP buddies kept their mouths shut about this for the last 100 years?
Its very easy to poke holes in your mouthing off isnt it
Historically the Conservatives were the Protestant Party in Scotland and the Labour Party had the vast majority of Catholics voting for them.
The SNP came along and used as one of their tunes "Forget the Old Orange and Green" and with that and other demonstrations of non-sectarianism have achieved what no unionist (Scottish sense) party came close too i.e. virtually the same % support in votes from Catholics and Protestants.
I guess that makes life difficult for those who prefer to see life in Catholic v. Protestant terms-how ironic that the upper echelons of both Celtic and Rangers are united in opposition to Scottish independence
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