RELIGIOUS hate crime in Glasgow has dropped for the third year in a row, according to the latest report.

The city is still home to the highest number of charges, but has seen a steady decline in each of the last three years.

The number of charges with a ‘religious aggravation’ attached fell from 197 in 2015/15 to 176 last year.

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t is a drop of almost 40 per cent from three years ago when there were 281 charges brought.

Glasgow was home to 30 per cent of all Scotland’s recorded religious hate crime, a drop of 11 per cent and down from more than 40 per cent three years ago.

According to the statistics of reports the common scenario is a male abusing a police officer, late Saturday or  early Sunday while drunk.

Across Scotland, there was a slight increase in the number of charges following a steady decrease.

Again Catholicism was the most common religion of the victim of abuse but which has fallen. Protestant victims also dropped while there has been an almost doubling of offences where the victim was Muslim.

The number of anti-Islamic charges went up from 21 to 134 in just one year. The report said it was not related to one particular event unlike in previous years was a general rise in reporting of abuse.

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The justice secretary, Michael Matheson, said he wants more people to come forward and report hate crime.

He said: “There is no place in Scotland for any crime motivated by prejudice, be it racial, religious, homophobic or any other form of intolerance. 

“While I am concerned at an increase in the number of charges on last year, including the rise in alleged offences against Islam, it does indicate an improvement in the willingness of the public to report these crimes, and that should be welcomed. 

“I want every victim of such crimes to be willing to come forward and work with the police to ensure the perpetrators can be pursued and punished appropriately.”

The police were the victim in most instances, with 41 per cent of the cases involving someone abusing an police officer , often  while inside a police station.

Alcohol was a factor in almost half of all cases according to police reports on the incidents which were most likely to take place late on Saturday evening and early hours of Sunday morning.

The most common place for an offence was in the street or at a police station.
Offences at football stadiums halved from 31 to 15 in a year and showed a drop from 85 three years ago but could be dealt with under the football Act instead.

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