By Suzanne Kelly.
On 25 July, former Aberdeenshire councillor Debra Storr was arrested by police for creating a chalk hopscotch board with the message “Trump is a C*nt”, alongside the late Janey Godley’s initials inside a heart shape.
Police reportedly hesitated before making the arrest — an act that many see as disproportionate and likely in breach of Ms Storr’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights specifically, her right to freedom of expression.
She was charged under Section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, a law usually reserved for threatening or abusive behaviour likely to cause fear or alarm.
Debra told Aberdeen Voice:
“You’d have to have a fragile sensibility to find this abusive. It’s not threatening. It’s political expression — about one individual — and how I feel about him, given the environmental destruction at Menie, his presidency, and his clear belief that laws and taxes are for other people.”
The image of the late comedian Janey Godley holding a placard reading “Trump is a C*nt” during a previous anti-Trump protest became a viral internet sensation, and is often circulated online in its unedited form.
Ms Storr explained her chalk design was a tribute to Godley:
“She can’t protest herself any longer, but she certainly struck a chord.”
Despite Trump’s current visit being private, roads have been closed, residents restricted from accessing their homes, and a significant police presence deployed to the Menie estate. Officers are reportedly being drafted in from England and Northern Ireland.
Storr has been banned from the estate until her court date on 22 August.
Protests at Menie and in Aberdeen city centre were well attended.
Storr was one of the councillors who voted against Trump’s original golf course plans — a project that promised thousands of jobs and an economic boom. Instead, the course has operated at a loss and resulted in the irreversible destruction of two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).