Belinda has finally managed to get to an internet access point and has given us this insight into the weekend’s events.
The leafleteers reported that the majority of the public were receptive to the leaflets once it was explained what the issue was about. It appears some thought they were election leaflets hence were not interested! so we soon realised it was necessary to introduce them with a sentence such as "this man’s been locked up for a year in Craigninches for trying to get the police to investigate a local paedophile ring" or "it’s about getting the police to protect children from paedophiles in Aberdeen" or "it’s about Hollie Greig" and a lot of people already knew the story but if not, they were told and then they expressed concern and disapproval and willingly accepted the leaflets.
There were only 3 reported incidents of people reading the leaflets then handing them back in disgust.
As for the ‘unpleasant encounters of the 3rd kind’, one happened on Union Street with one of the 7 on Hollie’s list of fellow-victims and the other 2 in the Ferry Hill area and it is thought they are connected.
The first was with one of the alleged members of the ring outside Sainsburys in Garthdee Retail Park whom the leafleteer recognised, having been at Stonehaven. The encounter went as follows "I recognise you!" "and yes I recognise YOU! and you’re STILL carrying on aren’t you!" and off she flounced.
It appears the woman then went and got another female member of the alleged ring and the 2 went cruising around looking for the leafleteers, who were not hard to find. Spotting a couple of them in Bon Accord Street they stopped the car and one of them got out and asked how to get to Union Grove (which the guy in question found a bit odd as a gambit) but then she said "you’re being conned, you know!" and started filming them. This annoyed the guy who told her in no uncertain terms what he thought of her and that as far as he was concerned, she was the one being conned and she was showing herself to be a friend of paedophiles and that if he ever saw her again anywhere in Aberdeen he would inform all the people around loudly this woman is a friend of paedophiles! She didn’t hang about after that and drove off.
The 3 who had their details taken by the police were on Union Street, the most central part of town.
There was another brief brush with the police later in the day outside the prison. Having been alerted to some kind of demo going on there, a couple of officers eventually drew up alongside us in a car. They walked towards us and asked who was the organiser here?
"We have no organiser, officer, we all act for ourselves!" "well actually, there is an overall organiser but he’s not here today, his name is Greg Lance Watkins". Whether or not they recognised the name that seemed to defuse matters and after telling us mildly to leave they drove off again.
(To be continued)
