Protest march not authorised say cops
| Published date | 21 January 2022 |
| Publication title | Stirling Observer |
Whilst there, shoppers allege that mothers were forced to flee into shops with their children as protesters made their way through the centre and one demonstrator was claimed to have snatched a mask from a stranger's face.
However, police said that "no incidents took place and no arrests were made".
Stirling Area Commander, Chief Inspector Gill Marshall this week said that the event was staged without any consultation between the organisers and officers.
Speaking at Stirling Council's Public Safety Committee yesterday (Thursday), she told how the marchers had failed to obtain permission to stage the procession ahead of the event.
She said: "Police Scotland became aware of the plans for a group of antivaccination protesters to hold a static protest within King's Park in Stirling. That became aware to us through intelligence sources and at no point throughout this entire situation have we had contact from anybody pertaining to be the organiser or planner of the event. It then became clear as we monitored that intelligence that there was indeed an intention to move from King's Park and to undertake a march.
"Because we had no formal contact, there was no confirmation of what that route would be or what the planned march would consist of in terms of time or length.
Protest liaison officers were then deployed to the march."
CI Marshall added: "This is a group of officers who would normally make that contact with organisers and people who would normally make approaches to the council for permissions etc. so they tried to engage with the group via various means.
"In the main, because the legislation around about preventing marches and unauthorised marches requires any warning or engagement around about the consequences of unauthorised marches to be delivered to an organiser, a named individual, which we haven't had in relation to this protest."
Stirling Council confirmed that no permission was granted for the procession.
A council spokesperson said: "The organisers of this event did not engage with the council, nor follow the notification process for undertaking such an event, and therefore no permission was granted."
When the protesters began marching...
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