A UK Government minister has defended the right of Israeli artists to perform following a protest at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Demonstrators disrupted a performance on Thursday at the Edinburgh Playhouse by the Batsheva Dance Company, from Tel Aviv.

Earlier a number of leading Scottish creatives, including writers Iain Banks and AL Kennedy and national poet Liz Lochhead, publicly called for the show, called Hora, to be banned given that it is partly funded by the Israeli Government.

Alistair Burt, Minister for the Middle East, said he regretted the attempt by a coalition of Scottish pro-Palestinian groups to disrupt the performance

He said: "I strongly support the freedom of Batsheva to appear at the festival, and deeply regret the attempts to disrupt them. The UK absolutely opposes the targeting of institutions and individuals for no other reason than they are from Israel.

"It achieves nothing, is divisive and runs counter to the long history of cultural freedom in this country."

The show had to be stopped three times due to protests inside the theatre, and 100 people gathered outside the venue to protest and burn tickets.

A spokesman for the Israeli embassy said: "We are delighted the audience gave Batsheva repeated standing ovations."

He added: "We are committed to ensuring that Israeli-British cultural co-operation will continue to flourish."