Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt Fringe event featuring John Swinney

Police have been called in to remove pro-Palestinian protesters from an event with First Minister John Swinney at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Mr Swinney was speaking to comedian Susan Morrison when the event was disrupted five times by six different groups of protesters who held up signs that spelled the word “genocide”.

As the event went on, tensions rose between the protesters and other members of the crowd, with three police officers called in and the First Minister’s security team forced to keep people back from berating Mr Swinney on the stage.

The protesters shouted at the First Minister to stop funding arms companies through the Government’s commercial arm Scottish Enterprise, as well as to describe the ongoing crisis in Gaza as a “genocide”.

The First Minister sat quietly during the protests.