Pictures show scale of anti-lockdown protests in Glasgow and Edinburgh as demonstrations take place across the UK

A small number of anti-lockdown protesters turned up today in Edinburgh and Glasgow despite warnings from police and the First Minister to stay at home.

Pictures showed around 40 protesters went to Glasgow Green to hold placards and wear face masks displaying their messages from about noon, and officers later shut down the event.

At one point a police helicopter was seen circling above the crowd in Scotland's biggest city.

In Edinburgh, police were seen marhsalling a group of protesters at Holyrood Park – but the number of people who attended appeared to be very small.

One tweeter, who shared an image of the gathering, said: “A quarter of the Holyrood anti lockdown protest crowd is journalists covering it.”

Leaflets were posted on social media advertising a 'unified peaceful mass gathering' at locations across Scotland including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen and Dundee.

The flyers called on people to "bring a picnic" to the events and "say not to the coronavirus ill, no to mandatory vaccines, no to the new normal, and no to the unlawful lockdown."

Multiple conspiracy theories and mis-information campaigns around the safety of vaccines have been debunked, and the current lockdown is legal due to legislation enforcing it having passed through parliament.

Protesters turned out in Glasgow and Edinburgh

Police Scotland strongly urged people to avoid any planned anti-lockdown events at the weekend.

It would appear the vast majority of Scots stayed at home and listened to this advice.

The Scottish Government’s current guidance is for people to stay at home unless leaving to get food, access medical care, exercise or carry out essential work which can not be done from home.