SCOTTISH Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay has said her party supports players and fans wishing to boycott the World Cup in the US, but has stopped short of calling for the Tartan Army to snub the tournament.
Scotland will travel to Boston to take on Haiti and Morocco in the World Cup in June before facing Brazil in Miami.
The World Cup is taking place across the US, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.
Calls for teams and fans to boycott the tournament have intensified in recent days in the wake of shootings in the US by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and Donald Trump's rhetoric around Greenland, with former Fifa boss Sepp Blatter the latest to back fans not travelling to the US.
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Last week, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said Scotland should not boycott the World Cup suggesting the tournament seems “somewhat small fry” in the face of the “extremely serious” global situation concerning the US president.
He has since said he has "not been using social media very much” after he was challenged on his social media silence on American law enforcement killing civilians at protests.
Asked what the Scottish Greens stance was on the World Cup, Mackay said any boycott had to reflect the reality of it being staged in three nations.
She said the World Cup should be a celebration of diversity, not a platform "for stirring hate and division", adding: “Football has always been a powerful and meaningful platform used to stand up for human rights and protest injustice, and we absolutely support players and fans taking a stand if they wish to.
“Being a Scotland fan myself, I know how important this tournament can feel for fans and players alike, and I know how conflicting it can feel to be excited for it at the same time as we are witnessing the US government inflicting brutality at home and abroad.
“For many of us, it’s the first time in a generation that we have seen Scotland qualify and there will be thousands of fans who have already made arrangements, often at great cost.
“This World Cup is being hosted across three countries, and any discussion of boycotts has to reflect that reality. Our friends in Canada and Mexico should not suffer because of the fascist regime sweeping through the US. It would be wrong to tar our friends in Mexico and Canada with the same brush.
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“The values that football represents are the exact opposite of what Trump stands for. The World Cup should be a celebration of diversity, unity and people coming together, promoting the very best countries around the world have to offer, not a platform for stirring hate and division."
Flynn has previously been quick to criticise Donald Trump in the past and is an active social media user but has not spoken out about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shooting dead two US citizens since the beginning of the year.
Flynn is planning to attend the World Cup in America later this year but rejected that his lack of condemnation was a result of his travel plans when speaking to journalists on Tuesday.
Blatter is the latest international football figure to call into question the suitability of the US as a host country.
He supported the comments of Mark Pieth, a Swiss lawyer specialising in white-collar crime and an anticorruption expert, who called on football fans to stay away from the US.
“I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup,” Blatter said on social media.
Pieth cited the killing of Renee Good by an American immigration agent in Minneapolis earlier this month as one reason for supporters not to travel to the US.
A second US citizen, Alex Pretti, was killed by ICE agents at the weekend.
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