AS Nicola Sturgeon announces her resignation, we are remembering some of her best moments. We are republishing this story from 2021.
Nicola Sturgeon has rebuked far-right extremists who accosted her outside of a polling station.
The First Minister was meeting and greeting voters in her Glasgow Southside constituency when she was approached by Holyrood candidate Jayda Fransen and a man whose identity has not yet been confirmed.
Fransen is a convicted racist and was a former deputy leader of fascist organisation Britain First. She is standing for election as an independent in Glasgow Southside.
A video posted online, filmed by the man, shows the pair walking towards Sturgeon outside Lorne Street Primary School polling station to “confront” her.
The SNP leader immediately steps away and brands Fransen a “fascist”.
@scotnational Nicola Sturgeon let far-right thugs know what the people of Glasgow thought of them... #indyref2 #nicolasturgeon #snp #scottish #scotland ♬ original sound - The National
The right-wing extremists level the same accusation at the First Minister, make bogus accusations about sexual assault in Glasgow and lambast her for trying to turn Scotland into a “socialist republic”.
Sturgeon tells Fransen, who continues to follow her across the road away from the polling station, that she doesn’t “know anything about this constituency”.
After Fransen makes a remark about immigrants, Sturgeon says: “You are a fascist. You are a racist. And the southside of Glasgow will reject you.”
Fransen was then asked who she is by an SNP supporter. She replies: "I'm not fascist, just a normal, decent unionist patriot.
"My grandfather fought the Nazis."
The SNP leader was widely praised on social media for her handling of the exchange.
“Cudos to Nicola for this, handled like a pro,” one person wrote.
Another added: “Nicola's strength and conviction here is absolutely fantastic."
Fransen, who formed the British Freedom Party, describes herself as an “extremist in every sense”. She believes Islam and the Koran should be banned while those opposed to the monarchy should be hanged for treason.
She has previously been pictured outside the constituency office of Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf holding a sign saying "it's okay to be white" and has said she is running against the "SNP commie, Marxists, naughty people".
She was convicted of a number of religiously aggravated crimes, including harassment in both 2016 and 2018 – the latter of which saw her sentenced to 36 weeks in prison.
Although a member of the British Freedom Party, documents from Glasgow City Council show Fransen is running as an independent.
