Counter-terror cops probe suspected anti-Muslim 'attacks' in Edinburgh

<p>Police in Scotland said on Saturday that counter-terrorism officers were investigating several “violent attacks” the previous evening in Edinburgh that injured five men in suspected anti-Muslim incidents.</p> <p>Police Scotland said a 36-year-old white Scottish man had been arrested and that there was no further threat to the public. Footage posted online showed a bare-chested man — purportedly the suspect — roaming streets of the Scottish capital with a large weapon.</p> <p>“Counter Terrorism Policing Scotland is investigating, supported by other specialist colleagues and local policing officers,” police said in a statement.</p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media-- media--embed media--uneven media--tweet' data-original-src='https://x.com/PoliceScotland/status/2068336853145551282'> <div class='media__item media__item--twitter '><span> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <a href="https://twitter.com/PoliceScotland/status/2068336853145551282"></a> </blockquote> </span></div> </figure> <p>It added officers had received multiple emergency calls late Friday from people reporting “violent attacks including threats, robbery and vandalism across Edinburgh, with five men injured”.</p> <p>The victims — two aged 22, and others aged 24, 27, and 39 — sustained various injuries and three required hospital treatment, but none of the injuries were life-threatening, according to police.</p> <p>Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney said he was “deeply concerned” by the incidents.</p> <p>“There is no place for violence, racism or intolerance in our country,” he added on X.</p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media-- media--embed media--uneven media--tweet' data-original-src='https://x.com/JohnSwinney/status/2068366210740240546'> <div class='media__item media__item--twitter '><span> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnSwinney/status/2068366210740240546"></a> </blockquote> </span></div> </figure> <p>Both the Scottish Association of Mosques and the anti-Islamophobia non-profit Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND) said several of the victims were Muslims.</p> <p>MEND noted the alleged footage of the arrested man circulating online also showed him shouting about “protecting the country” from Muslims, accompanied by expletive-filled language.</p> <p>MEND urged police to “treat this as what the evidence indicates: Islamophobic, far-right terror”.</p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media-- media--embed media--uneven media--tweet' data-original-src='https://x.com/mendcommunity/status/2068299327307472949'> <div class='media__item media__item--twitter '><span> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <a href="https://twitter.com/mendcommunity/status/2068299327307472949"></a> </blockquote> </span></div> </figure> <p>The incident comes with tensions heightened across the UK over immigration and diversity, amid claims that far-right agitators are fuelling racist sentiment after a number of high-profile incidents.</p> <p>The Northern Irish capital, Belfast, saw two nights of <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/2007215/racist-thuggery-slammed-after-second-night-of-northern-ireland-unrest">serious disorder</a> last week after a knife attack, allegedly perpetrated by a Sudanese refugee, was captured on camera and went viral online.</p> <p>There were also violent skirmishes between protesters and police the previous week in Southampton, southern England, over the handling of the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/2004779">murder</a> of young white student Henry Nowak by a British Sikh man.</p> <p>Detailing Friday night’s incidents, Police Scotland said two men were initially injured in Sighthill, a west Edinburgh suburb, and taken to hospital by ambulance. The <em>BBC</em> said it understood the attacks began near a mosque.</p> <p>Three other men were subsequently attacked elsewhere, suffering different injuries, before officers confronted and arrested the suspect, according to police.</p> <p>“The individual remains in custody and enquiries continue,” Police Scotland said.</p> <p>Assistant Chief Constable Catriona Paton called the events “shocking”, adding that “there is no place for racism or faith-based hate in Scotland”.</p>