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The number of religious and political marches given the go-ahead in the west of Scotland outnumbered those held in Belfast, a Sunday Mail investigation has revealed.

The revelation comes after sectarian rioting brought Glasgow city centre to a standstill yesterday.

Shoppers and tourists looked on in disbelief as dozens of Loyalists fled from police down Hope Street in the centre of Glasgow, bringing traffic to a standstill. There were claims some were wearing balaclavas.

(Image: Copyright Mark Anderson)

The group had previously tried to charge a cordon of officers in nearby Blythswood Square, set up to protect Republican marchers – the second march of its kind that day .

The parade – for the Friends of the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association – had been delayed for an hour as officers battled to stop trouble flaring in shameful scenes. Chants of IRA were audible from marchers.

Heavily guarded and outnumbered by up to 500 officers, riot vans, a helicopter and mounted police, the marchers were pursued and heckled by Union Jack-waving protesters along the route.

An hour earlier, another Republican march – by the group Cairde na hEireann – in the east end of the city saw similar ugly scenes, with police separating the groups chanting abuse at each other.

(Image: Jamie Williamson)

Despite the fact that officers outnumbered marchers and counter-demonstrators, there were sporadic outbreaks of trouble.

An officer was hospitalised after being hit by a flare thrown by one of the 1000 Republican marchers and Loyalist protesters.

Experts and politicians warned authorities had lost control of the situation.

And the body that represents rank-and-file police officers said the cost to the public purse would be crippling for years to come.

Former first minister Jack McConnell said: “The amount of trouble on these marches is increasing. Scots have a right not to have their days interupted by violence, drunken behaviour and abuse.”

(Image: Copyright Mark Anderson)

The cost of policing yesterday’s controversial marches could be as high as £100,000.

Former chief superintendent Tom Buchan, who was responsible for policing scores of marches, said: “There are hundreds of these marches every year and the cost to the public and the policing budget is significant.

“In view of the dire financial states of Police Scotland, it must also be very hard for them to continually spend limited resources on the marches. There is overtime costs, the cost of bussing the officers to and from the marches and the cost of providing refreshments.

“There will also have been a great deal of pre-planning involved in the last week by senior officers.

“It could be months before the final cost is known.”

Among 10 arrests made were a man and a 15-year-old accused of carrying offensive weapons.

Glasgow’s city streets and towns and villages in Lanarkshire played hosted to more Loyalist and Republican parades than Belfast last year. Yesterday’s marches were the 186th and 187th divisive parades this year in Glasgow.

By the end of this month, the city will have hosted 198 Loyalist and Republican marches in total ­– just seven short of 2018’s total.

(Image: Jamie Williamson)

It is unclear how many more will be reluctantly given approval by Glasgow council bosses.

But the city council is bracing itself for a flurry of applications from Loyalist groups at the start of November to mark Remembrance Day.

In 2018, the last full year of figures, council chiefs in Glasgow and North and South Lanarkshire said they held 450 parades. Most were held in Scotland’s largest city (205).

The majority of the marching groups were Loyalist, including the Orange Order, Apprentice Boys of Derry and the Royal Black.

Just 16 were recognised as Republican marches and parades.

A further 151 were held in North Lanarkshire and 84 in South Lanarkshire. Again, most were considered Loyalist gatherings.

Contrastingly, figures obtained from the Parade Commission, a quango based in Northern Ireland, show Belfast held just 294 marches in 2018 ­– over a third less.

Anti-sectarian group Nil By Mouth’s Dave Scott said our revelation would “open people’s eyes” about the scale of the antagonising marches in the west of Scotland.

(Image: Copyright Mark Anderson)

He said: “We’ve seen marching pretty much become a year-long issue here rather than just over the summer months, as is the case in Belfast.

“We’ve seen several high-profile events linked to parades over the last 18 months, which are also serving to stoke tensions.

“We aren’t in favour of a blanket ban of marches but there is a real social and economic case to start reducing the numbers.”

Scott added that the cost of the marches wasn’t confined to policing costs.

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He said: “There can be no denying that people avoid public areas where parades are on and this will have an economic impact of that community.”

Callum Steele, of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “There’s no doubt that these marches are a significant drain on resources.

“What happened in Govan saw the police met with overt hostility.

“If Govan is at all indicative of these events going forward, policing them is going to be heavier than ever in the future.”

Last week, Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken held talks with police and the Scottish Government over the future

of marches in the city following the ugly scenes in Govan.

Councils have responsibility for allowing marches to go ahead. But their decisions have to be made by balancing human rights laws on freedom of assembly and association with the need to minimise disruption to people and communities.

Lord McConnell urged the Government to meet the marching groups and work out an agreement before next summer.

He said: “I’ve never taken the view that people should be banned from having marches. These people have rights but, ultimately, Scots also have a right not to have their days interrupted by violence, drunken behaviour and abuse.

“But there is a rise in the number of problems on these marches and it’s caused by inaction from the Scottish Government since 2007.

“We need to get these marching organisations together to hold them to account and decide on a code of conduct. That’s the first step with an updated agreement between the marching groups.

“These organisations need to agree voluntarily to a new approach to routes but also to stamp out the behaviour we’ve been seeing. If that fails, then all options should be on the table.”