Police have been called in to investigate an ‘anti-Semitic’ image used in a campaign calling for Dame Maureen Lipman to be dropped from a play.

The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) is lobbying for people to back a petition demanding that the 79-year-old ‘national treasure’ be stopped from performing.

She is due to appear at His Majesty’s Theatre (HMT) in Aberdeen from May 26-30 in a ‘heart-warming comedy with music’ called Allegra, by Peter Quilter.

The SPSC has launched an online petition headed Stop Maureen Lipman Performing at HMT Aberdeen, while the SPSC in Aberdeen posted a photograph on Facebook of Dame Maureen with red devil’s horns and a trident.

In medieval Christian folklore and artwork, Jews were depicted with grotesque characteristics such as devil’s horns and other Satanic features.

Last night Timothy Lovat, chairman of the Jewish Council of Scotland, said he had reported the image to Police Scotland. He said: ‘It is absolutely anti- Semitic and disgusting – this is the kind of thing which is leading to anti-Semitic attacks on our streets.

‘It is going to encourage people to look at Maureen Lipman as a perpetrator of evil acts when in fact she is a respected British Jewish actress appearing in a play, being blamed for things which have nothing to do with her.’

East Renfrewshire Tory councillor Paul Edlin, a board member of the Jewish Council of Scotland, added: ‘I just don’t see why this is being done and what it hopes to achieve.’

Writing on X, Scot Rosie Kay, founder and former artistic director of Rosie Kay Dance Company, said Dame Maureen is ‘currently the target of a campaign of personal vilification and anti- Semitic abuse intended to secure her cancellation’. She said: ‘This campaign of intimidation is an attempt to force a lawful production off the stage through organised pressure.’

The SPSC said: ‘Over the past decade Lipman has openly voiced extremist, Islamophobic, anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab views. Write to Aberdeen Performing Arts [the taxpayer-funded charity which runs HMT] and make it clear: racists are not welcome here.’

A pro forma letter claims ‘Lipman’s positions are clear – she is an open supporter of the settler-colonial, apartheid state of Israel, which continues to commit genocide in Gaza, and is ethnically cleansing the West Bank’.

Former Coronation Street star Dame Maureen told LBC last week that she believes anti-Semitism in the UK has reached levels akin to the pogroms in Nazi Germany in 1933, following the stabbings of two Jewish men in Golders Green, North London.

According to the website for the touring production, ‘national treasure’ Dame Maureen stars in the title role of Allegra.

Last night Stewart Whyte, Scottish Tory candidate for Aberdeen Central, said: ‘This campaign has an air of anti-Semitism about it and doesn’t represent people here.’

Aberdeen Performing Arts, which is funded by Aberdeen City Council and the Creative Scotland quango, said it ‘is not affiliated to any political stance or cause’, adding: ‘We do not endorse the personal or political views of the artists who perform on our stages.’ The SPSC said it ‘stands by the petition’. Dame Maureen and Police Scotland were contacted for comment.