For Women Scotland: Campaigner facing vandalism charge after spat involving brolly outside Parliament
For Women Scotland campaigner Susan Smith is alleged to have damaged a counter-protestor’s umbrella during a demonstration in September.
A founder of the campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS) has been asked to attend a police station after accusations she damaged a counter-protester’s umbrella during a rally at Holyrood last month.
Susan Smith, who was one of the campaigners who took the Scottish Government to court over the definition of a woman, has reportedly been asked by police to accept an offer of a recorded police warning.
The alleged incident took place during a Women Won’t Wait demonstration on September 4, where FWS and other campaigners were calling on the Government to implement the Supreme Court’s judgement on the definition of a woman.
Ms Smith is alleged to have approached counter-protestor Tom Harlow, of the Cabaret Against Hate Speech group, to ask him to turn down loud music he was playing through an audio system.
Mr Harlow accused her of breaking his rainbow-coloured umbrella. According to the Daily Mail, Ms Smith is expected to decline the offer of a warning by police and has been told that will mean she could face a vandalism charge.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: “You have to ask if Police Scotland’s response to this petty stooshie over an umbrella is proper and proportionate, and what message it sends to women who are fighting to protect their rights.
“I could barely hear a word as this male activist played loud music to silence the voices of women who were peacefully protesting about the SNP’s failure to respect the law on single sex spaces.
“It seems that the national force remains under the spell of the SNP’s extreme and discredited trans ideology, to the detriment of common-sense policing expected by the paying public and frontline officers.”
Ms Smith is being supported by the Free Speech Union (FSU). In a post on X, director of FSU Scotland Fraser Hudghton said attempts by Mr Harlow to “drown out” protestors at the rally were “inimical to free speech”.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "We are reviewing our response to the protest outside the Scottish Parliament on September 4, which includes the complaint of an umbrella being damaged.
"A final decision on the outcome of that complaint will not be taken until this review has been completed."