Key Alex Salmond ally due in court over alleged 'rammy' hours after protest at FM's home

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A key ally of Alex Salmond is due in court after being charged over an alleged early morning rammy.Chris McEleny, who serves as general secretary of Salmond’s Alba Party, was reported to prosecutors over claims he was embroiled in a melee outside a tenement close.

It's claimed the 36-year-old was responsible for a disturbance in Greenock, just miles from the town of Gourock where he served as an elected member of Inverclyde Council at the time.The alleged incident is said to have taken place just hours after McEleny and other politicians staged a protest in Edinburgh, outside the official home of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.And we can reveal that McEleny is now due in the dock at Greenock Sheriff Court in connection with the claims.

A hearing is set for next month.He became a councillor in 2012 and defected from the SNP to Alba in 2021 when Alex Salmond launched the pro-independence party.The politician - who had been a member of the SNP’s executive body and previously stood for depute leader under Sturgeon - failed to retain his seat in last May's council elections, but remains a key figure in Alba due to his role as general secretary.We told in 2021 how McEleny, then 35, was charged by police over claims he had tried to force his way into a block of flats in Greenock’s Kelly Street.It was claimed he had been seen shouting and swearing in the street and had also kicked and punched the door of a close.On September 24, 2021, McEleny, his dad Jim, who was also a councillor, and Alba depute leader and former SNP stalwart Kenny MacAskill staged a protest outside Sturgeon’s official residence.They went to Bute House demanding shipyard contracts for new ferries be awarded to Port Glasgow shipbuilding firm Ferguson Marine.B