John Swinney says victims of Edinburgh knife attacks deeply traumatised

John Swinney made his remarks during a visit to Broomhouse mosque, near where the attacks are thought to have started. Photograph: Rachel Keenan/PA View image in fullscreen John Swinney made his remarks during a visit to Broomhouse mosque, near where the attacks are thought to have started. Photograph: Rachel Keenan/PA John Swinney says victims of Edinburgh knife attacks deeply traumatised Scotland’s first minister expresses solidarity with communities affected by apparently anti-Muslim violence John Swinney has said victims of the allegedly anti-Muslim knife attacks in Edinburgh last week have been deeply traumatised by their experiences. Scotland’s first minister spoke to some of the five men injured in the series of attacks that appeared to target Muslims and people of colour around the city on Friday evening, with four taken to hospital. Speaking to the PA news agency after a visit to Broomhouse mosque, near where the attacks are thought to have started, Swinney said he had come with a message of solidarity, sympathy and empathy for those affected. “I have spoken to some of the young men who were injured as a consequence of this act on Friday evening. They are not only physically injured but they are deeply traumatised by the attack,” he said. “I’m here to express the solidarity of the Scottish government and the political leadership of Scotland with the community who will be traumatised,” he said. The incident could have “enormous consequences for cohesion within our community”. The suspect in the attacks, which allegedly involved assaults on worshippers leaving Broomhouse mosque, taxi drivers, passersby and bicycle couriers, was was scheduled to appear in Edinburgh sheriff court in private on Monday. Police with stun guns arrested a white Scottish man aged 38 and bare chested on Leith Walk at aabout 9.30pm on Friday night after reports of a series of incidents at at least six locations involving someone wielding bladed weapons. View image in fullscreen About 100 local people gathered on Leith Walk on Sunday for a rally intended to prove the attacks were an aberration. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian Two men were stabbed as they left Broomhouse mosque in the south-west of the city at around 8.30pm, and a taxi was vandalised at a petrol station on Telford Road near Crewe Toll in the north-west about 45 minutes later, where an axe and shattered glass on a seat were photographed. At about 9.28pm, shelves were reportedly overturned at a shop at the eastern end of Ferry Road in Leith, and at about 9.30pm three people were hurt on Leith Walk, where a man was filmed attacking a pizza take-away before being arrested. An eyewitness told the Guardian a bicycle courier was attacked with a bladed weapon and a minicab had its window smashed. The five injured men were aged between 22 and 39. The suspect is alleged to have shouted that he was trying to protect his country as he was arrested. Owais Ahmed, a member of Broomhouse mosque’s management te