State Department Condemns Scotland for Arresting Elderly Woman Over Peaceful Sign

In a jaw-dropping show of authoritarianism from one of America’s closest allies, a 75-year-old Scottish grandmother was arrested over the weekend for doing what used to be considered a basic human right peacefully holding a sign and offering conversation.

Rose Docherty, who has already undergone two hip replacements and poses no threat to anyone, was handcuffed by police outside Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Her alleged crime? Violating Scotland’s radical “buffer zone” law, which bans not only harassment but even the mere act of “influencing” outside abortion facilities.

Docherty’s handwritten sign said simply. “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.”

No shouting. No confrontation. No mention of abortion. Just a quiet offer to talk.

And yet, under Scottish law, that’s now enough to be thrown into a police van.

The U.S. State Department, in a rare and blistering rebuke of an allied nation, spoke out forcefully:

“The arrest of Rose Docherty is another egregious example of the tyrannical suppression of free speech happening across Europe... The United States will always speak out against these violations of fundamental rights.”

This is the second time Docherty has been arrested in the same location, with the same sign. Her first arrest, in August, was quietly dropped after international backlash and an earlier warning from the U.S. State Department. But the Scottish government clearly hasn’t learned.

After this latest arrest, Docherty was reportedly denied a chair while in custody for several hours, despite her age and physical condition. Her bail conditions now ban her not only from the hospital’s buffer zone, but from an even wider area essentially exiling her from public speech near any medical facility.

Her legal team at Alliance Defending Freedom International called it what it is: a gross abuse of power.

• The law bans any “influencing” within 200 meters of every hospital in Scotland.

• Legal experts warn this standard is so vague, it could include silent prayer, peaceful signs, or even gestures.

• Scottish MP Gillian Mackay, the law’s architect, admitted it could apply even to someone praying inside their own home if someone on the street can see them.

This is not progress. This is tyranny wrapped in politically correct packaging.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t about protecting women. It’s about crushing dissent. A government that arrests an elderly woman for offering a peaceful conversation is not a liberal democracy it’s a regime clamping down on the most basic freedoms in the Western world.

As Docherty herself said, “Conversation is not forbidden on the streets of Glasgow. And yet, this is the second time I have been arrested for doing just that.”

This is where the Left’s censorship obsession leads: grandmothers in jail, free speech under siege, and governments punishing thought crimes disguised as public safety.

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