Edinburgh attacks probe sees man charged after anti-Muslim violence spree

A topless man was seen driving erratically through Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider, leaving five men injured across the city and triggering a counter-terrorism probe. Police Scotland said the incidents on Friday, 19 June 2026, unfolded in different parts of Edinburgh, including Sighthill, Leith Walk and Telford Road.

Officers said five men were hurt, two aged 22 and others aged 24, 27 and 39. Three required hospital treatment, and none of the injuries were life-threatening. Police detained a 36-year-old man around 9.30pm and later charged him in connection with the incidents, with a report submitted to the procurator fiscal and the man due to appear in court.

Counter Terrorism Policing Scotland is leading the investigation with support from specialist and local officers, a sign of how seriously the authorities are treating the case. Police said they had received multiple emergency calls about violent attacks, including threats, robbery and vandalism, and later stressed that there was no further threat to the public. Public safety, officers said, remained their priority as they continued to establish the full circumstances.

The political response quickly turned to the question of bias motive and the safety of Muslim communities. Sir Keir Starmer said the suspect appeared to have been motivated by “anti-Muslim hatred,” while Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said there was no place for hatred and violence against Muslims. Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, said he was deeply concerned.

The Scottish Association of Mosques said two of the injured were reportedly attacked after attending prayers at their local mosque, and warned that the assaults followed an alarming pattern of hostility and violence directed towards Muslims, mosques and Islamic institutions across Scotland. Muslim Engagement and Development, known as MEND, said several of those hurt were Muslim and urged police to treat the case as Islamophobic, far-right terror.

Assistant Chief Constable Catriona Paton called the incident shocking and said there was no place for racism or faith-based hate in a Scotland at its best when people stand together. For investigators, the next test is not only tracing the path of the attacks, but deciding how the law should define them: as ordinary street violence, or as bias-motivated assaults that demanded a stronger public safety response from the start.