POLICE Scotland will ensure the “public’s important right to protest peacefully” is respected if, as expected, Donald Trump comes to Scotland in July, the Scottish Government has said.
The US president is due to come to Britain for a “working visit” on July 13, but it’s widely expected that he will travel north of the Border to his golf club in Turnberry.
The last time he was at the Ayrshire club was to open the course in June 2016.
In Holyrood yesterday, Green MSP Patrick Harvie asked Annabelle Ewing, the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs if police would “facilitate, not restrict, public protest” if Trump comes to Scotland.
Harvie said there needed to be an opportunity to demonstrate “revulsion at the racism, misogyny, climate change denial and litany of lies for which President Trump is responsible.”
He asked the minister to “ensure that her party colleagues support and participate in that demonstration”.
“The greatest and widest opposition to the Trump regime must be seen and expressed by all the people of Scotland right across the political spectrum,” Harvie said.
Ewing responded that she didn’t have the power to “insist on the presence of any individual at a demonstration of any kind”, and added that the “nature of any policing operation is an operational matter for the police”.
She added: “Police Scotland has confirmed that arrangements would be put in place to police any visit in a way that would maintain the public’s important right to protest peacefully while enforcing the necessary existing laws. Scotland has a proud and long-standing tradition of peaceful protest and I assure the member that that will continue.”
Ewing said the Scottish Government had not yet been given any indication by the UK Government that Trump was likely to come to Scotland.
As The National revealed last month, Golfers trying to book tee times at Turnberry for Friday 13, the day the US commander-in-chief is due to visit to the UK, are being told none are available.
Days before there had been more than 20 tee times free to book, and other slots remain for every other day of the year.
With each tee time costing at least £375 per person, it seems unlikely the loss making golf course would sacrifice a day of business slap bang in the middle of the summer holidays for anything other than a very special occasion.
A Sunday newspaper reported that UK officials were considering organising a golf trip as a possible stop for Theresa May and Trump on the president’s 24-hour trip.
But, the paper suggested this would likely be on a course in England as there would be no time to come to Scotland. It is possible that the president disagrees.
Since his inauguration, Trump has visited golf courses 105 times, according to the Trump Golf Count website.
He has had 51 confirmed games, though the real figure is believed to be higher. The website estimates a cost to the US taxpayer of more than $67 million, mainly for flights on Air Force One to Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster, his Florida and New Jersey golf resorts.
May had originally extended an invitation to Trump when she became the first foreign leader to visit the US president after his inauguration in January 2017. That full, formal visit will likely not be held until a later date.
The last time Trump was in Turnberry was on the day of the Brexit referendum result when he came to officially open the relaunched course.
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