Anti-asylum protest organiser admits abusing police officer

The leader of a group which organised months of anti-immigration protests outside a hotel housing asylum seekers has admitted swearing at and abusing a police officer.

Connor Graham, 28, pled guilty to breach of the peace after an incident outside the Hotel Cladhan in Falkirk on 6 December.

He was the organiser of Save Our Futures and Our Kids' Futures (SOF) until he said earlier this week that he had disbanded the group.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard that Graham admitted acting aggressively and shouting and swearing and uttering threatening and derogatory remarks to PC Nathan Wilson while he was on duty.

One of the "derogatory remarks" is said to have been a disablist slur against the officer.

His not guilty plea to a second charge alleging he was attempting to incite violence was accepted.

Graham has previous convictions for dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.

Solicitor Simon Hutchison, defending, said Graham had "not been in a lot" of trouble in the last four to five years and that his record was mostly for road traffic offences.

Sheriff Christopher Shead deferred sentence until 6 March for a justice social work report and an assessment of Graham's suitability for a restriction of liberty order – a home curfew enforced by an electronic ankle tag.

SOF began weekly protests outside the Cladhan Hotel in August after an asylum seeker was convicted of raping a teenage girl.

Graham announced the dissolution of the group in a post on its Facebook page earlier this week.

He said he would no longer be involved in organising or attending protests due to the attendance of far right groups.

"Marching alongside groups like Patriotic Alternative or the Homeland Party completely derails the message," he wrote.

"This has gone far beyond protesting a hotel and failed immigration policies, and into territory that will only damage communities, discredit legitimate concerns and hand authorities the excuse to shut protests down altogether."

Anti-racism group Stand Up To Racism described the move as a "victory for anti-racists and anti-fascists".