A PROTESTOR who was arrested after berating the husband of Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont for defending the benefit-test company Atos is demanding his day in court rather than accept a fine for breach of the peace.
Sean Clerkin was issued with a fixed
penalty notice after berating Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont's husband for
defending benefit-test company AtosPhotograph: Lenny Warren
Sean Clerkin was handcuffed by police and detained for more than five hours
in a cell after he shouted from the public gallery at Glasgow City Chambers on
Thursday.
If followed the council's entire Labour group, including Lamont's husband Councillor Archie Graham, backing Atos as a sponsor of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games in a vote forced by the SNP.
If followed the council's entire Labour group, including Lamont's husband Councillor Archie Graham, backing Atos as a sponsor of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games in a vote forced by the SNP.
Graham alone spoke in defence of the French IT giant, whose subsidiary Atos
Healthcare has a £110 million contract with the UK Department for Work and
Pensions to conduct fitness-to-work tests on the sick and disabled, including
cancer patients.
Critics say the tests are cruel and degrading, and that hundreds of people have died within months of being passed as fit to work.
After the Chambers rumpus, the police issued Clerkin, 52, from Barrhead, with a £40 fixed penalty notice for breach of the peace, which accused him of shouting and behaving "in an aggressive manner".
But Clerkin, who became notorious during the 2011 Holyrood election for penning Labour leader Iain Gray in a sandwich shop, last night said he would not pay up.
He said that after all 42 Labour councillors, including one who had previously denounced Atos as sponsor, voted against the firm's removal from the Games, he had stood up in the gallery and barracked the Labour benches below.
"I said, 'You have blood on your hands, all of you. You have chosen corporate greed over human beings'. I said to Archie Graham, 'You will always be remembered for this.' I was arrested for freedom of speech."
A fellow protestor from the Glasgow Against Atos group showered the Labour councillors with Monopoly money, forcing Lord Provost Sadie Docherty to suspend the meeting for 20 minutes.
Graham stuck up for Atos in his role as the council's spokesman on Glasgow 2014. He said: "You must separate Atos Healthcare from the Games sponsor Atos which is a different arm of the company."
He reminded SNP councillors that Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomed Atos as a sponsor last year.
With Atos providing the software to register the Games's 70,000 athletes and staff, he said it was "impossible to distance ourselves from them" and asked where the sponsorship would come from instead.
Billy McAllister, deputy leader of the SNP opposition, who tabled the anti-Atos motion, told Graham: "Shame on you if you put profit before people. If you don't vote with your conscience, this will come back to haunt you."
John Flanagan, a former Glasgow Labour councillor who is now a solicitor, confirmed he had been instructed by Clerkin in the case.
He said: "A fixed penalty notice has been issued under the Antisocial Behaviour Act 2004. Mr Clerkin will be seeking a hearing at the sheriff court to contest the notice."
Atos, which employs 1500 staff in Scotland, says it is working to "deliver a first-class Games that will showcase the best of Scotland", while Glasgow 2014 says it is "very proud to have global IT experts Atos as part of Glasgow 2014's sponsor family".
Critics say the tests are cruel and degrading, and that hundreds of people have died within months of being passed as fit to work.
After the Chambers rumpus, the police issued Clerkin, 52, from Barrhead, with a £40 fixed penalty notice for breach of the peace, which accused him of shouting and behaving "in an aggressive manner".
But Clerkin, who became notorious during the 2011 Holyrood election for penning Labour leader Iain Gray in a sandwich shop, last night said he would not pay up.
He said that after all 42 Labour councillors, including one who had previously denounced Atos as sponsor, voted against the firm's removal from the Games, he had stood up in the gallery and barracked the Labour benches below.
"I said, 'You have blood on your hands, all of you. You have chosen corporate greed over human beings'. I said to Archie Graham, 'You will always be remembered for this.' I was arrested for freedom of speech."
A fellow protestor from the Glasgow Against Atos group showered the Labour councillors with Monopoly money, forcing Lord Provost Sadie Docherty to suspend the meeting for 20 minutes.
Graham stuck up for Atos in his role as the council's spokesman on Glasgow 2014. He said: "You must separate Atos Healthcare from the Games sponsor Atos which is a different arm of the company."
He reminded SNP councillors that Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomed Atos as a sponsor last year.
With Atos providing the software to register the Games's 70,000 athletes and staff, he said it was "impossible to distance ourselves from them" and asked where the sponsorship would come from instead.
Billy McAllister, deputy leader of the SNP opposition, who tabled the anti-Atos motion, told Graham: "Shame on you if you put profit before people. If you don't vote with your conscience, this will come back to haunt you."
John Flanagan, a former Glasgow Labour councillor who is now a solicitor, confirmed he had been instructed by Clerkin in the case.
He said: "A fixed penalty notice has been issued under the Antisocial Behaviour Act 2004. Mr Clerkin will be seeking a hearing at the sheriff court to contest the notice."
Atos, which employs 1500 staff in Scotland, says it is working to "deliver a first-class Games that will showcase the best of Scotland", while Glasgow 2014 says it is "very proud to have global IT experts Atos as part of Glasgow 2014's sponsor family".
Herald Scotland
