AN SNP MSP has contacted police after discovering that the glass doors at her constituency office had been smashed overnight.
On Sunday afternoon Karen Adam, the MSP for Banff and Buchan who won her seat last year, found that the office on Chapel Street, Peterhead, appeared to have been vandalised. It came after the office was soft-launched just two days ago.
The representative uploaded photos of the damage to social media, writing that “this is not the way to protest”.
In the post, Adam wrote: “Police being called. I’m trying to do the job I was elected to.
“Transphobic stickers at my office and now this. Shame on them. My staff deserve better. They deserve to feel safe. Also a shameful waste of resources and time,” she added.
The attack comes days after Adam hosted her first surgery in the space, focusing on the cost of living crisis with representatives from Citizens Advice Scotland, the Trussell Trust, Social Security Scotland and other groups.
After the success of the event, Adam said some of the fears and anxieties she’d about opening an office - because of online abuse and threats - had been put behind her.
“I maybe took my eye off the ball there because when I saw that today my heart just sank, I just felt sick. A lump in my throat," she said. "My friend was trying to call me but I couldn’t answer because I knew I was just going to burst into tears.”
Adam added that she wasn't certain whether the attack was deliberate yet, but called on people who target politicians with hateful messages to use the instance as an opportunity to reflect.
“I think what it shows is even if this was an accident of any sort, the feelings that it’s invoked within myself and my staff team just shows how we’re always on edge because of past threats," she explained.
"People who are threatening and using hate speech and targeting politicians, particularly female politicians, really need to reflect on what that does to a person. Because if this was an accident it sent me into an anxiety attack today just because of the previous instances.
"But it’s certainly not going to put me off doing what I intended to do. This office, I set it up a different way, completely different to other MSP offices because I wanted it to be a public space for people to come and have a safe space and unburden their problems."
Adam explained she and her team had worked late into the nights last week to set up the space for Friday, ensuring the office was suitable for people with disabilities and young families.
"It’s not going to put me off, but it does throw you," she added.
CCTV is now going to be set up in the office, which Adam hopes will help to prevent acts of vandalism in the future. She also already has CCTV at her own home as a result of threats made against her.
A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: "We received a report around 1.40pm on Sunday, 24 July, that a door at a premises on Chapel Street, Peterhead, had been vandalised.
“Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances and anyone with information that could assist is asked to call Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 1853 of Sunday, 24 July, 2022.”
