CCA closes amid planned takeover by pro-Palestinian activists
The board announced on Wednesday that it had made the decision to keep the building on Sauchiehall Street closed for the rest of the week.
It comes after Art Workers for Palestine Scotland shared plans to occupy the public courtyard as part of a week-long programme of action.
The campaign group said it would stage an events programme in the 'liberated zone', including workshops, screenings and discussions that centre Palestinian liberation and 'interrogate the complicity of Scottish cultural institutions in the ongoing genocide in Gaza'.
The action was announced in response to the CCA's Board's refusal to endorse the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). STV News Art Workers for Palestine Scotland action at CCA
The PACBI advocates for a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions.
Activists began their takeover on Tuesday, resulting in police being called and a 63-year-old woman being arrested.
The CCA Board said the decision had been taken to close the building temporarily to prioritise the safety and wellbeing of staff and partners and 'create space for reflection'.
A statement issued on social media said: 'In light of recent events and ongoing conversations involving the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), we've made the decision to keep the building closed to the public for the remainder of this week.
'This is not a decision we take lightly, but we recognise the need to pause. The temporary closure will allow us to prioritise the safety and wellbeing of our staff and partners, and to create space for reflection.
'We understand the strength of feeling being expressed by our community, and we remain committed to engaging with this moment thoughtfully.
'We will be sharing further updates in the coming days.'
In response, AW4P accused the CCA of choosing 'complicity' and called for the resignations of board member Roddy Hunter and chair of the board Jean Cameron.
'GSA Pal Soc are disgusted by the actions of the CCA and its board that took place yesterday, during a public programme of events centered around resistance, learning and artistic solidarity organised by Art Workers for Palestine', the group said in a statement.
'CCA used internal security, then called police who violently escalated the situation and brutally arrested a member of the public. It is completely shameful and abhorrent to enact fascist state violence against members of their local community who refuse to stay silent in the face of genocide.' STV News Art Workers for Palestine Scotland action at CCA
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: 'Around 12.55pm on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, we received a report of a disturbance involving a large group on Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow.
'Officers attended and engaged with those present. The group later dispersed.
'A 63-year-old woman has been arrested and charged in connection, and is expected to appear at court at a later date.'
Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Spectator
11 minutes ago
- Spectator
Ian Blackford refuses to rule out Holyrood bid
Well, well, well. After Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes announced she was stepping down at next year's Scottish parliament election, speculation about who could stand for her Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency has been rife. Some have suggested that Ian Blackford, the former SNP MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber and onetime Westminster group leader, could make a return to frontline politics by standing for an area he represented down south for almost a decade. So will he make the leap? When quizzed on Spectator TV about whether he would stand at next year's Holyrood election, Blackford did not rule it out – however he remarked: 'It would be a big push for me to get myself there.' How interesting… The investment banker-turned-politician went on: I didn't put myself forward for vetting to be an SNP candidate. It wasn't in my mind to stand for the Scottish parliament. What I've done is I've sought to be respectful to those that have asked me from the constituency over the course of the last few days. I've reflected on some of the some of the things which are going on. I am deeply concerned about the economy. When the UK cannot increase its debt level, the Chancellor will increase tax levels again in the budget this year. But we are not far away from a financial crisis. How do we create the economic growth that will make a difference for, for all of us in these islands and certainly for Scotland as well? I would like to find a way that I can still have an influence in that debate. And I don't believe that I have to be in the Scottish parliament to do that but I will carefully reflect on what people have asked me to do. The speculation began almost immediately after Forbes made her announcement. The Deputy FM was widely expected to run for the party leadership, whenever the next contest will take place, and her impending departure has raised the question of who might succeed First Minister John Swinney when the time comes. One nationalist told Lucy Dunn that: '[Blackford] is the dark horse here. Does he suddenly then become an outsider that could be the next leader, potentially, especially if you're looking at a caretaker regime that's basically saying the new kids on the block aren't ready to take the reins yet?' As an investment banker, Blackford could be a perfect fit to take on the role of economy secretary when Forbes steps aside – if, of course, the Nats hold onto her seat. But whether Forbes is as keen about the possibility of a Blackford return is a different story. On whether she would back a Blackford bounce-back, she told an Edinburgh Fringe audience: 'I am taking those headlines with a huge dose of salt. I did have a chat with him a few days ago and that wasn't in the conversation.' Would she vote for him? 'I will wait and see what the options are,' she replied. Not quite a full-throated endorsement, eh?
STV News
11 minutes ago
- STV News
Scottish water bosses to get £400k pay rise amid customer price hike
Scottish Water bosses have received £400,000 in pay rises despite hiking prices by nearly 10% for customers. The total cost of senior executive salaries rose to almost £1.4m in 2025, up from just more than £1.1m the year before, the body's annual report released on Wednesday shows. The chief executive Alex Plant's salary has gone up by £50,000 and now sits at £295,000. His total pay packet, including pension contributions, totals £523,000. Scottish Labour has said the 'eye-watering' salary increases will 'stick in the craw' for people across the country who are paying higher water bills this year. 'People across Scotland are struggling to make ends meet, yet the wages of bosses at Scottish Water are eye-watering and continue to rise,' Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said. Baillie said water bosses are picking up 'hefty incentive bonuses totalling more than £230,000' at the expense of Scottish taxpayers. From April, the average household bill increased by £44 per year. That's on top of a 8.8% rise the year before. Scottish Water said more investment was needed as current infrastructure is put under 'significant pressure' by more extreme weather conditions, such as more periods of drought and intense rainfall. The Scottish Lib Dems said this year's pay rises are the third highest on record, despite water bills going up sharply and 24,398 sewage dumps last year. 'The SNP government is rewarding their water company for failure,' Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said. 'Scottish Water are paying out enormous bonuses to bosses who are presiding over filthy sewage dumps and hitting customers with bigger bills.' Chief operating officer Peter Farrer saw his salary fall by around £20,000 but his overall package increased to £312,000. Chief financial officer Alan Dingwall, who joined the firm last year, was paid a salary of £175,000 and a total package of £293,000. But the body's annual report also shows a record performance in the past year in customer satisfaction – which hit 94% – as well as other positive results in leak reduction and the halving of serious pollution, leading Mr Plant to describe the past 12 months as 'our strongest year ever'. A spokesman for the utility company said: 'Scottish Water is one of the largest and best-performing utilities in the UK, but executive pay is significantly lower than in similarly sized private companies, where we need to compete for talent. 'Across the business, the biggest percentage pay rises have been given to the lowest-paid workers, narrowing the gap between the chief executive's pay and median employee earnings, which is already much smaller than the pay ratios in other companies of our scale. 'Total remuneration also includes pension contributions and variable pay related to performance, which is only paid when the business delivers strong results, as it did last year, with 94% customer satisfaction. 'Every Scottish Water employee is eligible for an annual outperformance payment.' The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Western Telegraph
20 minutes ago
- Western Telegraph
Sturgeon's ‘Stalinist' approach disastrous for SNP, claims Joanna Cherry
Speaking at an on-stage conversation with Matt Forde on Wednesday, the lawyer said Ms Sturgeon's top-down approach lay behind the party failing to recognise concerns around gender self-identification, and its failure to achieve Scottish independence post-Brexit. She said that unlike her predecessor Alex Salmond, Ms Sturgeon had shut down debate within the party on strategy and policy discussions, and that 'it was her way or the highway', and dissenters were viewed with 'deep suspicion'. The former Edinburgh South West MP added that she had never been friends with Ms Sturgeon, but that their differences were political rather than personal. 'I've never been close to her. This is not a personality clash. This is a clash based on the way that we do politics,' she said. 'I believe in open debates and discussion. And I don't think she does. I think she was Stalinist in the way in which she ran the party and the country.' She also criticised Ms Sturgeon's strategy for securing a Scottish independence in the post-Brexit period, when she said she 'repeatedly' pursued a mandate for a second referendum from the UK Government without considering a plan B. 'The ideal thing would have been to get a second referendum, but it was unwise to close down other options, and we needed to discuss other options,' Ms Cherry said. 'She never wanted to discuss a plan B, and she never wanted to discuss the possibility of treating an election as a de facto referendum. 'And when she eventually decided to do that, it was only because she'd run out of options, and she did it without any debate or discussion.' She added: 'The reason that I feel that her strategy failed and was so wrong was it was very narrow, and she repeatedly banged her head off the brick wall of the British Government's refusal to grant a section 30 order, rather than having a multi-faceted strategy to put pressure on them to do so, whilst also having a back-up plan if they said no. 'A more skilled politician of the sort of person that Alex Salmond was would have had that kind of a plan, and she didn't have it.' Ms Cherry also described the independence referendum in 2014 as a 'flowering of ideas' that had come about from the 'grassroots up'. She said: 'I think Nicola and her husband, as chief executive of the party, set out to undermine that grassroots power because it scared them, and to make everything imposed in the top-down, and that has had disastrous results for the SNP and for the independence movement.' Ms Cherry also said it was 'irritating' that in her recent autobiography Ms Sturgeon conceded some of the problems with gender self-identification were valid, given, she said, there had been multiple attempts to get her to 'press pause' on the policy at the time. These included, she said, an open letter in the Scotsman newspaper in 2019 by herself and 'quite a few other SNP MPs, MSPs and councillors', and separate calls from herself for a citizens' assembly to examine the issue. She said of Ms Sturgeon's response: 'Not only did she close her ears to them, she demonised those of us who raised concerns. 'She said first of all that our concerns weren't valid. And then she actually compared us to the far-right, said we're misogynist, racist, homophobes.' Joanna Cherry was first elected to the UK Parliament in 2015, and was her party's spokesperson for justice and home affairs until 2021. She lost her seat to Labour in the 2024 general election. The Scottish Government and the SNP have been asked for comment.
