Police Scotland to ship 120 officers to Belfast after dysfunction | NESMAG

Police Scotland are to ship 120 officers to Belfast over the subsequent week to assist quell threats of violence.

The pressure stated it had obtained a mutual assist request from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) forward of anticipated anti-immigration demonstrations and counter protests on Friday.

A safety operation is being put in place throughout Northern Ireland after 10 officers had been injured and 26 individuals had been arrested over six nights of rioting and dysfunction.

It comes after First Minister John Swinney wrote to social media corporations Meta, TikTok and X calling for “immediate” motion to deal with misinformation and hateful materials which has fuelled violent scenes throughout elements of the UK.

Police Scotland stated the officers could be loaned as a part of the association.

The PSNI’s assistant chief constable, Melanie Jones, stated it will give the pressure “vital additional resilience” to take care of dysfunction.

Police in Belfast responded to a number of race-related hate crime incidents and different dysfunction on Thursday night time, throughout which masked males focused them with bricks and masonry, whereas vehicles had been set on hearth and houses had been broken.

Mrs Jones stated 15 individuals had been charged with offences in relation to the dysfunction, describing the scenes as “a disgrace”.

Police Scotland have maintained that there may be “no intelligence” of comparable scenes – which had been sparked by incorrect claims an asylum seeker was chargeable for killing three younger women in Southport, Merseyside – being repeated in Scotland.

A spokesperson stated the pressure was in a position to help its colleagues in Belfast with out compromising on public security in Scotland.

They stated: “Mutual aid requests are always balanced against the needs of policing in Scotland.

“As a nationwide service, Police Scotland has the power to flex sources the place the necessity is biggest so as to maintain individuals protected.”

On Friday evening, about 150 people joined a Stand Up to Racism demonstration in Paisley and about 100 people gathered at a similar event in Bathgate, West Lothian.

The events were organised in response to rumours on social media that anti-immigration protests were being planned in the towns.

However, there was no sign of far right protests.

Meanwhile, Mr Swinney said Police Scotland had specifically raised concerns with him about the time taken to remove problematic posts from social media.

He said some of the posts may have met the threshold for charges under Scotland’s hate crime laws that came into effect in April this year.

The first minister praised the force for acting quickly to correct misinformation that three people in Stirling had been stabbed by an Asian man on Saturday.

That claim was perpetuated on social media by English Defence League founder Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.

Police later confirmed one 21-year-old woman had been taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and a 29-year-old white man from the area, Callum Fisher, appeared in court on Monday charged with attempted murder.

Mr Swinney said there was “significant anxiety” within Scotland’s Muslim and Jewish communities over potential violence after meeting with faith leaders this week.

He said “adequate preparations” were in place to deal with any flare-ups should they happen and Police Scotland had the resources to deal with any potential disorder, regardless of the officers travelling to help colleagues across the Irish Sea.

He urged social media companies to outline the action they were taking to resist the spread of misinformation and to address racist and hateful speech across the platforms.

“I think social media companies are completely passive about this kind of issue,” he stated. “They have an obligation to operate within the legal framework of this country and they are regulated by the various regulatory approaches that are in place.

“They are allowing content to be circulated which incites hatred, which platforms violence and that’s unacceptable in our society today.”