This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Police Scotland has confirmed a significant spike in hate crime since last Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris, as Muslim community leaders warn of a “fierce backlash”.

Iain Livingstone, deputy chief constable, said there had been 64 reports of racially or religiously motivated crimes across Scotland, including online and offline abuse.

The fight against Islamophobia is going backwards | Matthew Goodwin Read more

He was unable to say how many were directly linked to the Paris atrocities, but confirmed that suspects had been identified in 40 of these cases.

There were 71 charges relating to Islamophobic hate crime in 2014-15, out of a total of 569 incidents of religiously aggravated offending in Scotland.

Speaking at a gathering of faith leaders at Glasgow Central Mosque, Livingstone encouraged members of the Muslim community to continue reporting such incidents, insisting: “There is no place in Scottish life for such behaviour.”

He said: “We take a firm stance on dealing with all allegations of hate crime including those motivated by racial and religious intolerance. The increased police activity in responding to international terrorism is matched by the increased efforts of Police Scotland officers dealing with hate crime.”

Hate crimes against Muslims soar in London Read more

The gathering, which included representatives from the Catholic church, and the Jewish and Sikh communities, was convened with the purpose of publicly expressing solidarity across faith groups. This follows a spate of crimes, including a gang attack on a takeaway outlet in Methil, Fife, on Sunday, which resulted in the owner needing treatment for a serious eye injury and has so far led to four arrests.

On Monday morning, a mosque in Bishopbriggs, to the north of Glasgow, was the subject of a suspected arson attack. Death threats have been made to the Strathclyde University Muslim Students’ Association.

Jamil Moghul of Glasgow Central Mosque said: “Innocent Muslims are facing a fierce backlash, in part due to ignorance of Islam and in part due to Islamophobia. This has created a climate of fear and anxiety, such that school trips to this very mosque have been cancelled.”

Moghul encouraged people to report troubling incidents, adding: “There is a vast under-reporting of Islamophobic hate crime that needs to be addressed.”

Livingstone went on the reassure the community that there would be an increase in police visibility at mosques, including in Glasgow, while specialist officers were addressing the challenges of tracking online abuse.

At the weekend, far-right demonstrators clashed with refugee rights activists in South Ayrshire after members of the Scottish Defence League gathered in the village of Monkton claiming to have been approached by residents who were unhappy at speculation that refugees were being given emergency accommodation at a nearby hotel. According to bystanders, their protest was drowned out by a counter-demonstration of up to 200 people, attended mainly by locals in support of the resettlement plans.