{"id":110499,"date":"2024-08-08T13:54:17","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T13:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/08\/scotland-will-remain-vigilant-after-riots-john-swinney\/"},"modified":"2024-08-08T13:54:17","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T13:54:17","slug":"scotland-will-remain-vigilant-after-riots-john-swinney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/08\/scotland-will-remain-vigilant-after-riots-john-swinney\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland will remain vigilant after riots – John Swinney"},"content":{"rendered":"
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First Minister John Swinney met with police chiefs following violent disorder in other parts of the UK<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Scotland will remain vigilant following anti-immigration riots and counter protests in other parts of the UK, First Minister John Swinney has said. <\/p>\n

The SNP leader said violence and Islamophobia had “no place” in Scotland – which has so far avoided any outbreaks of disorder.<\/p>\n

It came after thousands took to the streets for peaceful rallies<\/a> in towns and cities across England on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

Met Police chief Mark Rowley called it a “very successful night”, saying the fears of extreme-right disorder were “abated”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Anti-immigration violence in towns and cities in England and Northern Ireland over the weekend had led to more than 400 arrests. <\/p>\n

This was sparked by misinformation over a fatal stabbing attack<\/a> in Southport. <\/p>\n

Mr Swinney said Police Scotland had \u201ccomprehensive\u201d plans in place to deal with any riots.<\/p>\n

He said the force had identified the possibility of anti-immigrant gatherings in Scotland, based on social media posts. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Anti-racism protesters gathered in cities and towns across England on Wednesday evening<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Mr Swinney said \u201cthankfully\u201d there had not been riots in Scotland, but added: \u201cWe have to remain vigilant because of the unacceptable conduct that’s taking place.<\/p>\n

He told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland<\/a>: \u201cI want everyone to remain vigilant because we have communities that are experiencing a great deal of fear and anxiety as a consequence of what they’re observing in other parts of the United Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He said Police Scotland had \u201cformidable\u201d resources that could be deployed flexibly across the country if required. <\/p>\n

Mr Swinney said the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service could deliver \u201cswift justice\u201d under a strategy developed for the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow in 2021, that had been revisited after the UK riots.<\/p>\n

Following a meeting with Chief Constable Jo Farrell in Edinburgh on Wednesday, he said there had been no requests for Police Scotland officers to be deployed south of the border to help deal with disorder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Former first minister Humza Yousaf has spoken about his experiences of Islamophobia <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Earlier this week, former first minister Humza Yousaf said he had questioned<\/a> whether he and his family have a future in Scotland or the UK due to Islamophobia. <\/p>\n

Mr Swinney said his predecessor\u2019s comments were illustrative of a \u201cdeep sense of anxiety\u201d in Muslim communities. <\/p>\n

After meeting faith leaders on Wednesday, he said both the Muslim and Jewish communities were feeling \u201cacutely anxious\u201d.<\/p>\n

And asked about the spread of disinformation about the riots, Mr Swinney said social media companies had \u201ca lot of improvement to undertake in their conduct\u201d.<\/p>\n

He echoed calls from regulator Ofcom<\/a> for social media firms to urgently protect users from content likely to incite violence or hatred.<\/p>\n

The first minister said disinformation can be \u201cprofoundly dangerous\u201d, citing false information spread about the stabbing of a woman in Stirling<\/a> over the weekend.<\/p>\n

He said Police Scotland \u201cdid absolutely the right thing to stamp on that misinformation and we will continue to do that where that is required\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘Take care not to share misinformation’ – Sarwar<\/figcaption><\/p>\n
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Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told BBC Scotland News that the vast majority of people would look at recent events and be horrified by the acts of a “far right thuggery”.<\/p>\n

Mr Sarwar called on social media companies to crack down on the spread of misinformation and “allowing the far right to organise, to recruit, to amplify and in some cases to fundraise.”<\/p>\n

Asked whether this would infringe on the right to freedom of speech, he said: “I\u2019m all for freedom of speech but there is a responsibility that comes on these platforms too and allowing known mistruths to be spread is not freedom of speech.”<\/p>\n

Mr Sarwar said Scotland could not be complacent and must send the far right a “strong message to say they are not welcome here”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘Avoid speculation’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Following social media speculation about far-right activity in the city, Glasgow Central Mosque said Police Scotland had confirmed there was no intelligence to suggest it would be targeted.<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a>, it said people should be vigilant but cautioned against alarm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge everyone to be wary of what you read on social media, avoid speculation and not to share unverified information,\u201d the mosque added.<\/p>\n

Reports of antisemitic incidents in the UK reached a record high in the first half of this year, according to figures from Jewish charity the Community Security Trust<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Scotland there were 40 incidents from January to June, compared to 14 in the first six months of 2023. A total of 22 of these incidents were in Glasgow.<\/p>\n

In their meeting with Mr Swinney on Wednesday, faith leaders agreed to work together to support vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Getty Images First Minister John Swinney met with police chiefs following violent disorder in other parts of the UK Scotland will remain vigilant following anti-immigration riots and counter protests in other parts of the UK, First Minister John Swinney has said. The SNP leader said violence and Islamophobia had “no place” in Scotland – which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[496,3786,19223,2378,41046,88548],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110499"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110499"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110501,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110499\/revisions\/110501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}