First Minister brands demonstrations at hotels 'unacceptable'

Protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers are “completely unacceptable”, Scotland's First Minister has said.

- LUCINDA CAMERON AND NEIL POORAN

Perthshire North MSP John Swinney said he does not think such demonstrations reflect “who we are” in Scotland, which he described as a welcoming country, and create a sense of fear and alarm which is “entirely unwelcome”.

Mr Swinney was speaking after a third weekend of demonstrations in the past month over immigration including on August 23 when a protest and counter-demonstration took place outside a hotel in Perth.

A group called Abolish Asylum System held a protest outside the city’s Radisson Blu.