Scotland will remain vigilant after riots – John Swinney

Earlier this week, former first minister Humza Yousaf said he had questioned whether he and his family have a future in Scotland or the UK due to Islamophobia.

Mr Swinney said his predecessor’s comments were illustrative of a “deep sense of anxiety” in Muslim communities.

After meeting faith leaders on Wednesday, he said both the Muslim and Jewish communities were feeling “acutely anxious”.

And asked about the spread of disinformation about the riots, Mr Swinney said social media companies had “a lot of improvement to undertake in their conduct”.

He echoed calls from regulator Ofcom for social media firms to urgently protect users from content likely to incite violence or hatred.

The first minister said disinformation can be “profoundly dangerous”, citing false information spread about the stabbing of a woman in Stirling over the weekend.

He said Police Scotland “did absolutely the right thing to stamp on that misinformation and we will continue to do that where that is required”.