THE European Commission has denied reporting the SNP to the police over the party's Brexit-night projection onto its main building.
It was widely reported earlier today that the light show, which featured the words "Scotland" and "Europe" connected by a love heart, had been "taken up" by the Belgian authorities after the commission's security team alerted them to the unauthorised projection.
On Brexit night, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had shared an image of the SNP-arranged projection, adding: “The EU Commission building in Brussels tonight (and if you look carefully you’ll see that they do appear to have left a light on for us!)”.
This morning the EU Commissioner said while there was no issue with the message on the light, “it had nothing to do with us and it was simply a matter for the Belgian police”.
READ MORE: SNP's 'Scotland loves Europe' message becomes issue for Belgium police
She added: “We are not in the business of being requested or granting authorisation for people outside projecting messages on our building.”
This afternoon, however, there was confusion over whether the commission really did report the projection to authorities.
Multiple journalists began to report that the commission hadn't reported the SNP to police at all.
On Twitter, STV political editor Colin Mackay wrote: "They say they dod [sic] not report the Scottish Government to the police because the light show was 'extremely short lived'."
And The Sun's Chris Musson posted a new update from the commission explaining why the issue had not been reported.
Seems the EU Commission spokeswoman at midday briefing had wrong end of stick. This update from the European Commission press office in past hour shows no action was taken re the unauthorised SNP light projection: https://t.co/8ZFMCud7gp pic.twitter.com/FNB4huehLc
— Chris Musson (@ChrisMusson) February 10, 2020
The spokesperson wrote: "The commission has and will continue to contact authorities in the event of unauthorised projections to have them stopped, on a general note. This particular incident was short-lived, so no actions were taken."
He explained that it seemed the "EU Commission spokeswoman at midday briefing had wrong end of stick".
However multiple media outlets had reported that the Scottish Government was being investigated by the police over the stunt.
More to follow.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel