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.

Legislation has now been tabled in Westminster under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 and is due to come into force next month. 

The proposed change brings Holyrood into line with Westminster and the Welsh Senedd by making it a criminal offence to remain on the parliamentary estate “without lawful authority,” punishable by a £5,000 fine or a year in jail. 

Writing to colleagues in London, Ms Johnstone acknowledged that protests were an essential part of the expression of democracy in Scotland, and are regular occurrences at Holyrood, and the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB), which runs the building, does not foresee invoking this power frequently. 

She added: “The SPCB therefore recognised that we need a proportionate means of maintaining parliamentary business whilst protecting the rights and freedoms of people.

“As we have seen many times recently, maintaining a functioning parliament to deliver and oversee the response to the current pandemic has clearly been in the national interest. 

“These powers must, of course, be exercised in a proportionate manner.”

The decision has been condemned by legal figures, with Roddy Dunlop QC insisting that “stifling protest is not acceptable,” and adding: “This is not OK. Protest furthers, rather than hinders, democracy.”

The sentiment was shared by human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar, who said: “There was a huge outcry when Westminster stopped hundreds of years of ‘right to protest’ outside the UK Parliament, so why are we copying them by banning protest outside Holyrood?

“All parties should be supporting that right to protest, no matter how ‘annoying’.”

Left-wing MSPs have also hit out at the plans, with Labour’s Carol Mochan posting on social media: “Criminalising protest in front of the people’s Parliament? Not in my name.”