TWO men have been charged under the Hate Crime Act after a protest at a hotel housing refugees in Aberdeen last week.
The pair, aged 37 and 39, were arrested in connection with inciting racial hatred during the protest, which took place in Links Road on Saturday, August 2.
In addition, the 37-year-old was also charged in connection with an assault.
Officers said they are pursuing "positive lines of inquiry to identify other individuals involved in offences" that took place during the event and anyone with information is asked to come forward.
The arrests come ahead of counter-protests this Saturday organised by the Aberdeen Trades Council against more far-right demonstrations.
Stand up To Racism told members this week that the "situation in Aberdeen is particularly worrying", and claimed more than 100 people, including members of the extremist Homeland Party, gathered at the protest last week.
"Intelligence gathering by Stand Up to Racism unvariably shows that far-right groups and individuals are involved in organising the protests at hotels or against refugees across Scotland," they wrote to members.
"Even where they don’t initiate them, they soon get involved. These are not ‘concerned citizens’ who want to protest ‘peacefully’ to ‘protect women and children’. They are racists who want to spread myths about refugees, harass them and some of them want to recreate the violence of last year’s riots."
Chief inspector Darren Bruce, Local Area Commander for Aberdeen City North, said: “Police Scotland supports everyone’s right to lawful protest, but when criminality occurs during these events, we will take appropriate action to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.
“There’s no place for hate crime in our society and our inquiries are continuing in relation to other reports of criminality that took place last Saturday.
“Anyone with information should contact us via 101 or make an anonymous report to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
