A SCOTTISH Tory councillor has been suspended after he made a post on Facebook comparing a girl not "taking a knee" for Black Lives Matter to a man refusing to give a Nazi salute.
Colin McGavigan, who is on the South Lanarkshire council, shared two photographs side by side, one of a German man in 1936 alone in a crowd of others throwing the salute, and another of a hockey player standing with her hand on her chest, while her team-mates kneel.
"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," he wrote, apparently conflating the BLM movement with the rise of the far-right in Germany, and a field hockey match with a Nazi rally.
This is one of the posts that led to Tory councillor Colin McGavigan getting suspended https://t.co/IneylPJ0dm pic.twitter.com/zqaTzykyVT
— Paul Hutcheon (@paulhutcheon) June 29, 2020
The posts were uncovered by the Daily Record's Paul Hutcheon, who added that the Tories "took swift action" to suspend the councillor after he approached them.
An earlier post from McGavigan was also uncovered where he shared pictures of Mary, Jesus and Joseph from countries around the world, writing: "I do hope Asian and African countries will be challenged on their portrayals of the Holy Family as he was not oriental and he certainly wouldn’t have been black.”
READ MORE: Tories lift suspension of Aberdeen councillor in anti-semitism and Islamophobia row
In his apparent defence, McGavigan told the Daily Record: "It’s nothing deeply political, because I am not deeply political, even though I am a councillor.”
He also said that "of course" black lives matter, because "all lives matter" but admitted he was confused by people taking the knee, saying: "What does that actually mean? I just don’t get it."
Hutcheson said he pointed out to the councillor he had been able to see the posts as they were public, to which McGavigan responded: “I’ll change it now to private.”
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