One of
Scotland's most senior prosecutors has said there will be "zero tolerance" of religious and racist bigots after the latest hate
crime figures showed a 10% increase in charges for sectarianism.
Frank Mulholland QC, the solicitor general, said religious bigotry was being tackled by an "extremely robust" prosecution policy after the number of cases reported to prosecutors increased to nearly 700 last year, the highest level in five years.
The latest statistics, which also showed that charges of racism reported to prosecutors fell by 3.6% to 4,165, follows the dramatic escalation in sectarian attacks and disputes in recent months centred on Glasgow's Celtic and Rangers football clubs.
Two men were arrested last week for explosives offences after allegedly being involved in a parcel bombing campaign against Celtic manager Neil Lennon and other prominent Catholics, including Lennon's lawyer, and an Irish republican group.
Rangers and Celtic fans are being prosecuted for alleged bigotry and racist offences on the internet and at football matches.
Earlier this week it emerged that the former Rangers' director and prominent lawyer Donald Findlay QC was sent a knife in the post.
Alex Salmond, speaking in the Scottish parliament as he was confirmed as first minister of Scotland, said the country should be proud of its reputation for hospitality and religious and racial tolerance, not for bigotry.
Clearly shaken by the damage caused to his party's message that Scotland is inclusive and multi-ethnic, he told the parliament that being Scottish included those Catholics who fled famines in Ireland.
"Modern Scotland is also built on equality. We will not tolerate sectarianism as a parasite in our national game of football or anywhere else in this society," he said.
Salmond's government has been accused of neglecting anti-sectarianism. Until a series of violent on- and off-the-field disputes involving Celtic and Rangers earlier this year, anti-bigotry charities faced closure due to funding cuts.
The first minister has since promised a renewed crackdown on sectarianism, including tougher legal sanctions and policing of online bigotry.
The last five years of figures show no decline in sectarianism offences; the highest annual number of prosecutions hit 704 in 2005/06, dropping slightly to 699 in 2006/07.
The figures also included the first full year for reporting of a new offence of homophobic and anti-disabled bigotry: there were 448 charges reported aggravated by sexual orientation, 50 charges aggravated by attacks on a person's disability, and 14 with an aggravation of transgender identity.
Mulholland said that last year 94% of sectarian offences detected by police were prosecuted.
"I hope this sends a strong message to anybody who still feels that such behaviour is acceptable – there is no place for them in a modern Scotland," he said. "They can expect to be met with a zero-tolerance prosecution policy."
The Crown Office, Scotland's prosecution agency, is carrying out a study into the religious content of bigotry offences after the Catholic church insisted that Catholics were bearing the brunt of sectarianism in Scotland.
The last study, in 2006, found two-thirds of reported offences were anti-Catholic in nature and a third were football related.
The church said those findings showed that, based on overall population, Catholics were six times more likely than Protestants to be a victim of bigotry.
That figure is contested by Professor Steve Bruce, an expert on loyalism and sectarianism at Aberdeen University.
He argues the figures are much less clear since there was no evidence about the identity of the victims, and many offences took place in areas with large Catholic populations.
Severin Carrell @
'The Guardian'
This BBC Panorama programme aired in Feb 2005 was actually made by my brother-in-law over in Glasgow and is just frightening to read. Nothing's changed for the better obviously...
Scotland's Secret Shame
