18 race crimes every 24 hours in Scotland

Shocking figures have revealed a rising tide of racist crime in Scotland. Police recorded 6439 racist crimes last year - that's 18 a day. The figure was up sharply from 5732 the previous year and 4556 in 2004. More than half of all the victims were of Asian origin.

Offences ranged from "racially aggravated conduct" - usually verbal abuse - to vandalism, fire-raising and serious assault.

The figures were set out in the first Scotland-wide report into racist crime, published by the Executive. Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson admitted that more action was needed to tackle the "sickening" trend. She said: "Crime in Scotland is falling but there remain key issues we need to tackle. Today's figures show that racist crime is one of them.

"All crimes are an affront to the values we hold dear, but crimes committed against someone because of the colour of their skin or their country of origin are particularly sickening."

The main target was Scotland's 32,000 Pakistanis, the biggest ethnic minority. There were more than 1500 racist crimes against Pakistani Scots last year. But there were also more than 1000 racist crimes committed against "white British" people.

Most incidents took place in the street or in a shop. But more than 800 people suffered abuse or attack in their own homes.

There were also 451 incidents in takeaways, 185 in pubs, 71 in schools and colleges, 61 in hospitals or surgeries and 29 at places of worship.

Incidents peaked on Friday and Saturday nights, suggesting some were fuelled by alcohol. The racists were usually male and more than half were under 20. The rising trend did not indicate an "explosion" in racism in Scotland, officials said.

Police have become more rigorous in recording racist crime since new laws came in in 2004. Ethnic minorities have also become more confident about reporting incidents.

But Bashir Mann, president of the Muslim Council in Scotland, said: "I think racism is on the increase in this country and in the UK as a whole. There has been a rise in Islamophobia and this has been aggravated by the anti-terrorism legislation introduced by the Government. There is not much the Muslim community can do about it because we do not have the resources."

Daily Record