The Scottish Police Federation (SPF), which represents rank-and-file officers, criticised the display of a street sign reading “Sheku Bayoh Street”, which is included in the museum’s Legacies of Slavery and Empire exhibition.

The sign was created by the Green Brigade, a group of Celtic supporters, and affixed to Cochrane Street in Glasgow city centre during Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, when a number of streets were “renamed” as acts of protest. The group later donated the sign to Glasgow Museums.

Lawyers for the SPF have written to museum officials seeking clarification on how the exhibit was curated and calling for more context to be provided around the circumstances of Mr Bayoh’s death.

In the letter, the SPF states: “We must formally complain that both the exhibition and its explanatory materials present a one-sided and biased account of the circumstances surrounding Mr Bayoh’s death.

“Absent from the information provided to the public is any reference to the established facts before the public inquiry, including that Mr Bayoh was intoxicated with illicit drugs and alcohol at the time of his death, and that he had been involved in a violent altercation with a close friend on the morning of the incident. Following this altercation, Mr Bayoh pursued his friend while armed with a knife taken from his kitchen.”

Mr Bayoh died after being restrained by police in Kirkcaldy, Fife in 2015. A public inquiry into the circumstances of his death is ongoing.

The SPF also criticised the wider framing of the exhibition, which addresses the legacy of colonialism and references “the use of police violence towards local communities and suggests such practices helped Britain maintain colonial rule”.

“The suggestion that Mr Bayoh’s interaction with the police was primarily or solely a matter of police violence, or that it was motivated by an attempt to control individuals of ethnic backgrounds as referenced in relation to Tanzania, is both misleading and unsupported by the evidence,” the letter adds.

In response, Glasgow Life, which operates the city’s museums, defended the inclusion of the sign as part of a broader reflection on protest movements.

A spokesperson said: “The museum scripted interpretation makes no mention of Sheku Bayoh or the circumstances surrounding his death.

“Some of the items in the Legacies of Slavery and Empire display including the sign, a placard from a Glasgow Green demonstration, and newspaper headlines from the time relate directly to the Black Lives Matter Movement.

“The street sign was created by activists as part of the 2020 protests. It is included to reflect this.”