SHAMEFUL racist vandals have been condemned after defacing a mural of Scotland's first black football player.
Louts sprayed anti-Black Lives Matter slogans and fascist mottos on a depiction of Andrew Watson, who captained the Scottish men's team in the 1880s.
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Humza Yousaf, the Justice Secretary, slammed the graffiti and said it highlighted the "depressing" fact racism exists in modern-day Scotland.
The slogans "No lives matter to the world eco form", which references an anti-lockdown conspiracy known as the "Great Reset" and "Die [antifa] Die Scum", were sprayed on the South Side mural.
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Speaking to Radio Clyde yesterday, he said: "It's utterly shameful that a mural to Andrew Watson, the person considered to be the first ever black player that played for an international team, widely considered to be the first... it's been defaced.
"It's been defaced with the 'All Lives Matter' slogan that we've seen that's been used often by those on the far-right to delegitimise the Black Lives Matter movement, and that to me is utterly depressing."
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Watson was born in 1856 to a plantation manager and former slave owner, Peter Miller Watson, and a British Guianese woman named Anna, Andrew moved to England with his father and sister Annetta in the early 1860s.
He lived in Govan and went on to win three caps for the Scotland team, including leading the team to a historic victory against England.
"It just speaks again to the fact that we've still got racism here in Scotland. Sometimes we think that racism isn't an issue here in Scotland or much of an issue as it is in other parts of the UK, but we still have problems with racism."
Glasgow city council has a policy to remove offensive graffiti within 48 hours of it being reported.
Police Scotland said they were not aware whether the matter had been reported to police.
Glasgow city council was approached for comment.
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