IndyCamp group served with notice to quit Holyrood site

Sheriff officers visited the site and posted a notice instructing the group to leave

A group of campaigners who pledged to camp outside the Scottish Parliament until Scotland is independent have been served with a notice to leave.

Sheriff officers visited the site outside the parliament on Tuesday afternoon and posted a legal notice.

The letter gives the group notice that they must leave by Thursday afternoon.

Members of the People's Voice group, who have set up a caravan and several tents, said they do not intend to leave.

The Scottish Parliament had been taking legal advice on the camp since it was set up at the end of November.

Sheriff officers arrived on Tuesday and posted a notice at the camp, warning the group that failure to vacate the site within 48 hours would result in court proceedings.

'Legal remedy'

The notice served said the campers were "preventing other members of the public from using the public space, and therefore infringing on the rights and freedoms of others".

It also noted that "your ongoing presence at the property is at odds with the policy of maintaining the political neutrality of the Parliamentary estate", with the Parliament "concerned about the risk of a public perception of a loss of such neutrality".

Parliamentary clerk and chief executive Paul Grice sent a letter to members telling them there had been "a gradual increase in the size and scale of the camp".

He said despite a "strong preference to resolve the issue through mutual agreement", it was clear alternative routes had to be sought, and there was now "sufficient grounds to pursue a legal remedy to the situation".

Campers said the project was a "continuation" of the five-year Democracy for Scotland vigil, which campaigned for devolution in the 1990s, and said they planned to keep the site manned around the clock until a declaration of Scottish independence.

The protesters say they intend to keep the Holyrood camp populated until Scotland is independent