A police officer was struck on the head with a hammer as a crowd of 250 people protested outside a Kilmarnock house last night.
Police attended the scene at the town's Hareshaw Gardens at around 7pm.
During the incident, a hammer was thrown from the crowd and hit the officer on his head.
He was taken to the town's Crosshouse Hospital for treatment and was later released.
Now police have this evening appealed for witnesses to come forward as they attempt to trace the person responsible for throwing the object.
Top cop Steven Meikle warned violence against police won't be tolerated and urged residents with neighbourhood concerns to get in touch.
The area commander for East Ayrshire said: "No one should expect to be subjected to violence while doing their job – and that includes police officers.
"We respect people's right to peacefully protest but someone brought a hammer to this protest and one of our officers was struck on the head with it. This changes the landscape entirely.
"The consequences could have been more harrowing, the hammer could have landed on a child's head, and our officers would have been expected to respond accordingly.
"The safety of our officers is absolutely paramount. They are relied upon to keep people safe but they are people too – being assaulted is simply not part of the job.
"The impact these groups are having on communities and policing is detrimental to our efforts to keep everyone safe. We can't condone nor do we encourage any group or individual to take the law into their own hands.
"If anyone has concerns or information they think we should know then please come to us and let us manage those concerns in a professional manner.
"Do not take the law into your own hands. Do not put the safety of other people at risk."
Anyone with information or video footage of the incident can call 101, quoting incident 2903 of 26 October, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
