GLASGOW City council leader Susan Aitken has been told she “diminished herself” after accusing rival politicians of “exploiting sectarian division.”

Her comments come amid the Rangers fan zone row which saw the leader and her deputy, David McDonald, back plans for a fan zone at Hampden, but not one for Ibrox.

Naming rival politicians online, Ms Aitken said: “The role of [them] in knowingly exploiting sectarian division on this issue can’t be ignored. They are responsible for stoking the abuse directed at me, David McDonald and his family and council officers. They bring shame on Glasgow politics.”

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A raging Alex Cole-Hamilton, Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP, labelled her comments as “a desperate and ugly thing to say.”

He added: “I know each of the people you’ve tagged. Very well in some cases and whilst our politics are different I’ve always been struck by their unswerving determination to stamp out prejudice. You’ve diminished yourself today, Susan.”

Ms Aitken hit back: “Do you know what’s desperate and ugly? My colleague has had death threats. His family have been subject to personal abuse. And it all began when those elected politicians chose to publicly endorse false claims about footballing bias, without any of them checking the facts.”

READ MORE: Council denies David McDonald privacy breach in Rangers fan zone row

Mr Cole-Hamilton then continued: “Abuse and threatening behaviour is never acceptable on any side. Good lord there’s enough of it about in Scottish public discourse right now. You lead the biggest city in our country. Resorting to that kind of accusation is frankly beneath you and harms your argument.”

On Sunday, the council denied Mr McDonald breached data protection during a social media row on the fan zone issue.

He used Twitter on Saturday evening to try to shed light on his position.

But he was criticised for sharing screen grabs of emails from Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson and also from Glasgow Life.

However, a council spokeswoman said: “We are satisfied that there has been no data breach.”

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As previously reported by the Evening Times, Mr McDonald denied intervening to prevent the Rangers fan zone from going ahead.

He issued a statement after heavy criticism of Glasgow Life’s decision to stop the club using the Ibrox Football Centre for a fan zone pilot before a match on August 12.

Mr McDonald said: “I strongly refute any and all allegations of incorrectly influencing a decision based on the football team I happen to support.

“I have never made a council or political decision based on the team I support.

“Neither I nor the council leader has any issue with the proposed fan zone at the Ibrox Football Complex, and I would welcome fresh efforts by Rangers Football Club to persuade the local community of their plans.”