Man charged over suspected anti-Muslim attacks in UK's Edinburgh

<p>Scottish authorities said on Saturday they charged a man in connection with<a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/2009523"> attacks</a> in Edinburgh that wounded five people with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying the suspect “appears to be motivated by anti-Muslim hatred”.</p> <p>Police Scotland said officers had arrested a 36-year-old white Scottish man and there was “no further threat to the public”.</p> <p>“A 36-year-old man has been charged in connection with a number of incidents which took place in Edinburgh on Friday, June 19, 2026,” police said late on Saturday.</p> <p>“A report has been submitted to the Procurator Fiscal, and the individual will appear at court in due course.”</p> <p>Footage posted online showed a bare-chested man, believed to be the suspect, roaming the streets of the Scottish capital with a large weapon.</p> <p>A police statement said they received multiple emergency calls late on 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, police said. Three were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the statement said, adding the incident is being investigated by the counter-terrorism unit and other police officers.</p> <p>Politicians in London and Scotland condemned the incidents.</p> <p>“Absolutely appalling,” Starmer said on X.</p> <p>“The suspect appears to be motivated by anti-Muslim hatred. I will not tolerate this — he will face the full force of the law.”</p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media-- media--embed media--uneven media--tweet' data-original-src='https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/2068420853042217360'> <div class='media__item media__item--twitter '><span> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <a href="https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer/status/2068420853042217360"></a> </blockquote> </span></div> </figure> <p>Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney said he was “deeply concerned” in a post on X.</p> <p>“There is no place for violence, racism or intolerance in our country,” he added.</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> <h2><a id="should-concern-everyone" href="#should-concern-everyone" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>‘Should concern everyone’</h2> <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>The organisation urged police to “treat this as what the evidence indicates: Islamophobic, far-right terror”.</p> <p>The mosques association noted: “In recent days we have seen calls for anti-migrant protests circulating online, alongside increasingly aggressive rhetoric directed at minority communities.</p> <p>“These developments should concern everyone, regardless of faith or background.”</p> <p>The incident comes as immigration and diversity in the UK takes the spotlight, with claims that far-right agitators are fuelling racist sentiment, after a number of reported high-profile incidents in the region.</p> <p>The Northern Irish capital Belfast <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/2007215">experienced</a> two nights of disorder 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, in southern England, over the handling of the murder 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 a west Edinburgh suburb and taken to hospital.</p> <p>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, police said.</p>