Police Scotland has received 3,000 complaints under the new legislation
By Megan Bonar
BBC Scotland News
Police Scotland has received more than 3,000 hate crime reports since a new law was introduced on Monday, the BBC understands.
It creates a new crime of “stirring up hatred” over protected characteristics.
A large number were about a 2020 speech by First Minister Humza Yousaf – then justice secretary – highlighting white people in prominent public roles.
Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown said people were making “fake and vexatious complaints”.
Police Scotland said complaints about Mr Yousaf’s speech were assessed at the time, with no crime committed and no action taken. The new law will not apply retrospectively.
Hate crime reports are handled by the force’s Contact, Command and Control centres.
These have been extremely busy but are understood to be coping with the number of complaints
Ms Brown told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme that “misinformation” and publicity had led to the high number of reports.
She also confirmed that a “fake complaint” was made using her name and contact details on Monday.
She said: “To be a crime it has to be threatening and abusive with the intent to a stir up hatred to an towards individual and this would cause that individual to have fear or alarm.
“That is a very very high threshold for criminality.
“We’ve been very clear within the act this is not about restricting freedom of expression, it is to protect.”
Graffiti near the first minister’s was found to breach the hate crime laws
As well as political opposition, a number of high profile individuals including Harry Potter author JK Rowling have voiced frustration at the new law.
Social media comments by Ms Rowling challenging the legislation were not found to breach the legislation.
In a series of posts, she described several transgender women as men, including convicted prisoners, trans activists and other public figures.
Police also confirmed graffiti which appeared near the first minister’s Broughty Ferry home had been investigated under the new law.
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 creates a new crime relating to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex.
An offence is committed if someone communicates material or behaves in a threatening or abusive manner with the intention of “stirring up hatred” based on these protected characteristics.
The maximum penalty is a jail sentence of seven years.
Stirring up hatred based on race, sexual orientation and religion was already illegal in Great Britain, but this will fall under the new act in Scotland.
Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said the new law was a “massive burden” to police at a time when resources are already stretched.
He told BBC Radio Scotland : “Police time is being taken up looking at which might well be vexatious complaints.
“The way the police in Scotland have been messaging this, actively encouraging complaints, has led to this deluge. Everyone one of which they have said they will investigate.
“I’ll be surprised if any of these complaints end up with a prosecution.”
