Latest news with #Bothies

Press and Journal

Highland tourist shocked by 'vile racism' at mount Suilven bothy

An Australian tourist has taken to social media to express his shock over the amount of 'blatant, vile racism' he witnessed in Scotland. Samuel Abdilla, a tourist from Adelaide, Australia shared his outrage on the Mountain Bothies Association Facebook page. Attached was an image of racist graffiti he had found while staying at a bothy at Suilven mountain in the Highlands. The graffiti said: 'If you're black, sleep outside with the other animals, you are not welcome in Scotland.' It also included Nazi symbols and the letters KKK. The Australian tourist removed the graffiti, changing the last part of the message to read 'Welcome to Scotland'. In the post, Samuel said: 'Was pretty shocked to come from overseas to Scotland and see the amount of blatant, vile racism that was around the place. 'An example was this graffiti in Sulieag Bothy. We did our best to scratch it off and tried to make a little better and welcoming! 'Despite this we did have a wonderful stay in a beautiful location underneath Mount Suilven.' Responding to the post, Simon Birch, chairman of the Mountain Bothies Association said: 'I was very shocked to see this graffiti in one of the bothies maintained by the MBA. 'This is very unusual – indeed it's the first time that I've heard of such disgraceful graffiti in any bothy. 'The MBA totally opposes any form of racism or discrimination. We will take action to erase the graffiti.' Members of the public also shared their outrage on the group. With many emphasising the Bothy Code of respect. David Bird said: 'Disgraceful. There is no place for those sentiments, they do not represent the views of the vast majority of Scots, and others who use Bothies.' Sarah Ai said: 'As a Scot that graffiti doesn't reflect my views. Thanks for removing this.' While Dean Souter added: 'That's horrific. I've never seen any racial slurs in the bothies I've visited so far thankfully. Thank you for removing it. There's no place for this and I hope this doesn't deter you from future visits.'