A TORY councillor in Scotland has been suspended after comparing Black Lives Matter supporters to nazis. 

Colin McGavigan, the deputy leader of South Lanarkshire Council’s Conservative group, compared a sportswoman who did not “take the knee” to a man who defied the nazis in a Facebook post.

The councillor posted an image of a woman appearing to stand during a Black Lives Matter tribute next to a well-known photo of a man refusing to give a nazi salute in 1936.

He wrote: “In years to come she’ll be acknowledged as one who didn’t bow to the narrative when it was the easy thing to do.”

The Scottish Conservatives have confirmed that the Clydesdale politician had been suspended pending an investigation. 

Mr McGavigan told the Star today that it was not his intention to compare protesters to the nazis.

He said: “I don’t do public posts, I have no idea why they went public. 

“The connection between Black Lives Matter and the nazis was never my intention. It was purely a photograph of someone who had a different point of view around them. 

“But now I realise why there is a discussion around it. What I intended was absolutely not to compare Black Lives Matter with the nazis.” 

A former SNP councillor in Edinburgh was charged today in connection with sexual offences and indecent communications.

Lewis Ritchie, now an independent, has been charged in relation to alleged offences between April 2016 and October 2019 in Leith.

Another incident is said to have happened in October 2017 in Kelvinbridge, Glasgow.

The former SNP representative is due to appear at Edinburgh sheriff court at a later date.