Police Scotland has confirmed it is assessing two reports relating to hate crime received during Sunday's Old Firm match.
On Tuesday, the force announced that it had received 7,152 complaints under Scotland’s new hate crime law in the first week of operation.
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, which took effect on Easter Monday, consolidated previous hate crime legislation and created a new offence of stirring up hatred against certain protected characteristics – which had been on the statute book for race since 1986.
Slides produced by Police Scotland showed two complaints made under The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act stemming from the Old Firm match.
Ticketing arrangements between the two clubs meant there were no Celtic fans at the game at Ibrox, which ended 3-3.
READ MORE: More than 7,000 complaints made under new hate crime laws in first week
Prior to the fixture, which was shown live on Sky Sports, leading Scots lawyer Thomas Ross KC said it was likely fans would attempt to use the new Act to report rival supporters.
As well as the more than 7,000 online reports, police also dealt with 430 incidents in the first week where a hate crime tag was added, while there were 34 calls to either 101 or 999 relating to a hate crime and 141 emails sent to Police Scotland for the same purpose.
But of these, just 3.35 of all reports were recorded as hate crimes – while 30 were logged as non-crime hate incidents, meaning they did not meet the threshold for a criminal offence.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “This data highlights the substantial increase in the number of online hate reports being received since 1 April.
“This significant demand continues to be managed within our contact centres and so far the impact on frontline policing, our ability to answer calls and respond to those who need our help in communities across Scotland has been minimal.
“All complaints received are reviewed by officers, supported by dedicated hate crime advisers, and dealt with appropriately, whether that is being progressed for further assessment, or closed as they do not meet the criteria under the legislation”.
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