Man charged after suspected anti-Muslim attacks across Edinburgh

Police Scotland said a man was charged after a series of attacks in Edinburgh on Friday night that are being treated as potential anti-Muslim hate crimes. Counter-terrorism officers were brought in to investigate the attacks in which five people were injured.

A 36-year-old white Scottish man was arrested on Friday. The force added late on Saturday night: “A 36-year-old man has been charged in connection with a number of incidents which took place in Edinburgh on Friday, 19 June, 2026. A report has been submitted to the Procurator Fiscal, and the individual will appear at court in due course."

Posts on social media appeared to show a shirtless man carrying a long weapon roaming a street and battering a restaurant door in the Scottish capital. Another video appeared to show the same man on the ground shouting about “protecting the country” while being held by a police officer.

Police said that five men, two aged 22, and others aged 24, 27 and 39, sustained a range of injuries and three needed hospital treatment though none of the injuries were life-threatening.