The Dalai Lama arrives in Dundee today at the centre of a furious political row over his historic visit.
The Tibetan spiritual leader will deliver Dundee University’s Margaret Harris Lecture on Religion as part of a UK-wide tour.
The high-profile visit is likely to be overshadowed by continuing controversy over suggestions both the Scottish Government and Dundee City Council have backed away from the trip over fears of upsetting China.
First Minister Alex Salmond and Dundee City Council have both held meetings with the Chinese consul-general recently.
Tickets for the much-anticipated event in Dundee sold out within a few hours of going on sale earlier this year, and thousands of people will be in attendance at the Caird Hall.
But there will be no official civic reception for the Nobel Peace Prize-winner in Dundee and no Scottish Government minister will meet him in Dundee or at other events in Edinburgh and Inverness.
Dundee University chaplain Rev Dr Fiona Douglas, who was instrumental in securing the visit to the city, said it had been important to ensure the city and its people featured as prominently as possible.
She was speaking after the Scottish Government’s response to the visit provoked a row at the Scottish Parliament.
During First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood on Thursday, Labour MSP Jenny Marra questioned why the 76-year-old Buddhist monk was not being afforded a ”proper welcome” to the city.
She said: ”What message does this send about the SNP’s willingness to address human rights abuse in China?”
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, filling in for Mr Salmond, said she condemned human rights abuses across the world. But she insisted the Dalai Lama’s trip to Scotland is a ”pastoral visit” and is being dealt with appropriately.
The exchanges came as Dundee University rector Brian Cox, who will make a speech at the event instead of Lord Provost Bob Duncan, made a barbed comment at the expense of the city council.
”City councils come and go, but the people of the city are still here,” he told The Courier. ”It’s on behalf of those people and my own family I am doubly honoured to welcome His Holiness.”
Photo by David Cheskin/PA Wire