AS The National revealed, Manny Singh, the only Yes activist to serve time in prison for his role in organising All Under One Banner mass marches for independence, is facing the loss of his livelihood as Glasgow City Council wants to suspend his licence for two weeks.
He would then have to reapply and Singh fears that his conviction and 72-day sentence will mean his private hire driver’s licence will not be restored.
Now the Scottish Independence Movement (SIM) has called for support for a crowdfunder to pay for Singh to have legal representation when his appeal against the council’s decision goes before the Sheriff Court.
SIM said: “We are reaching out and asking for help from everyone in the independence movement.
“We have been provided with the second invoice for the cost of representation at Glasgow Sheriff Court. Manny now has less than ten days to raise the next instalment of £5500.
“This funding will help hire a junior advocate and his lawyer to represent Manny at Glasgow Sheriff Court, where they can appeal the decision made by Glasgow City councillors.”
Singh was convicted because the licence for the march imposed by the council at the eleventh hour changed the starting time to 11am instead of 1.30pm, a time for which Singh had given many months notice. After discussions with Police Scotland the march went ahead as originally planned.
SIM said: “In 2019, more than 100,000 people marched in Glasgow for Scottish independence. Tens of thousands of you would not have been able to make that earlier time Glasgow Council demanded.”
At the time of the council suspension decision, Licensing committee chairman Alex Wilson, an SNP councillor, said: “We expect our drivers not to get imprisoned. We expect them to carry out their duties without having any background that is going to cause the committee any cause for alarm.”
The crowdfunder can be accessed here.
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