A man from Edinburgh has appeared in court charged with five counts of terrorism-linked attempted murder after attacks in the city on Friday.
Lewis Hawkes, 36, was also charged with one count of assault and robbery, two counts of breach of the peace and two counts of culpable and reckless conduct – all of which are also aggravated by reason of having a terrorist connection, the Crown Office said.
Counter-terrorism officers were brought in to investigate the attacks across the city on Friday, which left five people injured and are suspected to have an anti-Muslim motivation.
Mr Hawkes did not submit a plea during a private hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff's Court on Monday.
He was committed for further examination and remanded in custody, before another court appearance within eight days.
Earlier, Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney said victims of the attacks have been left with physical and mental scars after the attacks.
Mr Swinney spoke to some of those who were injured by incidents across Edinburgh on Friday evening.
“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 he wanted to send a message of “solidarity and sympathy and empathy” to them and also to the wider Muslim community in Scotland.
Mr Swinney said it was “just unbearable to talk to those young men who’ve been affected by this incident and injured by it”.
But he stressed it was “important that I’m here to express the solidarity of the Scottish government and the political leadership of Scotland with the community, who will be traumatised”.
Footage posted online shows a bare-chested man roaming the streets of Edinburgh holding a weapon, while another clip shows a man hitting the door of a pizza shop.
Police closed off Leith Walk on Friday evening as the incidents unfolded. Another video shows a bare-chested man being held on the ground by an officer. The man can be heard shouting that he was “protecting the country”.
The attacks began near Broomhouse Mosque in the west of Edinburgh about 8.30pm on Friday.
Two 22-year-old men, understood to have recently left asr prayers, were stabbed several times at Sighthill Park and taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
Police Scotland said that three other men, aged 24, 27, and 39, were attacked in the Telford Road and Leith Walk areas. One other man was treated in hospital and none of the injuries sustained are life threatening.
