Police created a barricade at either side of St Alphonsus Church on London Road after a group dressed head to toe in black clothing with their faces covered stood outside in an apparent protest.
Several police vans created the barricade in the popular Barras market area which was buzzing with Sunday shoppers.
(Image: Image by Newsquest) One eyewitness said: “I was driving down London Road when I saw blue flashing lights. Everyone started doing a U-turn as police wouldn’t let anyone past.
“At one side, I could see the marching band standing outside the barricade and not able to go any further due to police.
“Inside was a group of people dressed head to toe in black with their faces covered.
“No one was saying anything but there was hunners of polis.”
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The chapel would have been due to welcome worshippers for its Sunday service at 10am at St Mary’s Parish on Abercromby Street, and 12pm at St Alphonsus.
It is unclear if the services went ahead as normal or were cancelled.
(Image: Image by Newsquest) The incident has come after the Daily Record reports that Priest Canon Tom White slammed Glasgow City Council council’s decision to allow The Bridegton Apprentice Boys of Derry to march past his church after saying he was previously spat on after a mass on Saturday, July 7, 2018.
The priest told the Daily Record: “There has been no community engagement whatsoever as far as I am aware. I’d love to know how they evidenced this decision.
“It certainly can’t have been by looking at the arrest figures for these events. Nor, can it have been by looking at the historical divisions caused by them either.
“Glasgow gets this reputation for bigotry but it isn’t fair. People come from all across Scotland to attend these marches, so the council are letting people down by hosting them.”
However, a spokesman for Glasgow City Council told the Glasgow Times that they received no reports that would justify imposing conditions on the procession and the legislation that governs public processions is set nationally – not by individual councils.
The spokesman said: “This is not how the national legislation that governs public processions in Scotland works.
“There is a presumption in law that people who wish to carry out processions should be able to do so, provided they properly notify their plans to the local authority.
“We follow the legislation and the supporting guidelines laid down by parliament in dealing with any potential procession – which includes consulting with police.
“As the legislation stands, there are limited circumstances that justify a local authority seeking to place conditions on a procession. The fact that someone disagrees with or is offended by the aims or values of those marching is not one of them.”
The spokesman added: “A local authority requires credible evidence in order to take such a step – usually by way of intelligence from the police about a risk of disorder or a threat to public safety.
“We can only ever look at events on a case-by-case basis and, in this case, we received no reports that would justify imposing conditions on the procession under the legislation.”
(Image: Image by Newsquest) Police Scotland, who confirmed that they were in attendance due to the ongoing parade by the Bridgeton Apprentice Boys of Derry, closed London Road at 10.50am.
The road was shut for several hours but has since been re-opened.
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Due to the closure, a popular café based in the area, Scran, told the Glasgow Times that they lost money as a result.
Speaking to the Glasgow Times, a spokesperson for Scran said: “Unfortunately we were forced into closing today because of the incident on London Road.
“As we were caught directly between the two factions and on police advice, I took the decision to close ASAP as I wasn’t willing to put my staffs or customers safety at risk.
“As it’s our busiest day of the week we’ve suffered huge losses as I had five staff in and all the food prepped for a busy Sunday. So, a lot of food waste also.
“If we were informed about this even yesterday I could have put damage limitations in place and closed all day but nobody informed me of this planned gathering which was obviously known about by the police and council.”
The Apprentice Boys of Derry, the Catholic Church, St Mary’s Parish and St Alphonsus have all been approached for comment.
