A Perth SNP councillor sparked outrage after liking a tweet showing a cartoon image of a woman gagged, blindfolded and pinned down by two men with union flags on their shirt sleeves.
John Rebbeck was criticised by the Tories for favouriting the “repulsive” post from a pro-independence account that claimed the “British state had occupied” Scotland.
The politician, who represents the Perth City North ward, now faces demands to quit his post as convenor of the council’s learning and families committee.
‘Entirely inappropriate’
Councillor Rebbeck admits the photo was “entirely inappropriate” and says it does not reflect his “views or character”.
In the cartoon image, a distressed woman is being forcibly held down down by two men in suits who have British flags on the cuffs of their shirts.
She can be seen holding the stick from a broken saltire flag, which lies just to the right of her.
The picture was tweeted, from an account claiming to be “against foreign rule”, in the wake of the UK’s Supreme Court decision that the SNP could not hold a referendum without Westminster consent.
This is one of a number of incidents, since the judges reached their verdict, that have put the tone of the independence debate under the microscope.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon branded the Tories “democracy deniers” for refusing to grant a vote and thousands of independence supporters rallied across Scotland on Wednesday.
In another tweet later deleted, Mr Rebbeck claimed the UK Government were behaving like Scotland’s “imperial masters”.
Perth Tories condemned Councillor Rebbeck for liking the offensive post in the midst of a high-profile international campaign highlighting the scale of violence against women.
‘Deeply offensive and insensitive’
MSP Murdo Fraser said: “This was a deeply offensive and insensitive message at any time, but when we are marking 16 days of activism against gender-based violence it is unthinkable that it would be liked by a prominent local SNP politician in a position of authority.”
Perth Conservative group leader John Duff added: “My group were aghast that Councillor Rebbeck ‘liked’ such an abhorrent and repulsive image.
“While he subsequently removed the ‘like’, he failed to apologise or denounce this appalling graphic.
“That is unacceptable.”
Councillor Duff has written to SNP local authority chief Grant Laing demanding he sacks Mr Rebbeck from his convenor post.
Council leader Laing said Mr Rebbeck would speak to the Perth and Kinross monitoring officer before the matter was discussed further.
On Friday, Councillor Rebbeck tweeted: “In the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday I liked a tweet for its political context.
“In hindsight the image attached to the tweet was entirely inappropriate and does not reflect my views or my character.”
Mr Rebbeck was contacted by The Courier for comment, with the Perth and Kinross SNP group also asked to respond.