Riots are not a turning point in our history - Alex Cole-Hamilton

Volunteers clean up after the rioting in Rotherham on Sunday

It was such an optimistic time and the world watched as a Somali-born runner by the name of Mo Farah became a UK national treasure in just a few floodlit minutes. That is the Britain I recognise. A country of diversity and opportunity. A culture built on a rich tapestry of immigration and known the world over for offering safe harbour to those fleeing persecution over centuries.

So, while I share the abject horror at the riots that have blighted many towns across England and Northern Island these past days, I don’t see them as some significant turning point in our national story; 400 people have been arrested – 60 million others were not involved and were largely appalled.

Far-right leaders like Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) have talked in revolutionary terms that this summer will bring forth a “new era” where the people of Britain will rise up against immigration, Islam and refugees in general. But if that is true, it is a pale imitation of the celebrated revolutions of history. Parisians stormed the Bastille to push back against an over-mighty monarchy. A few racists in Sunderland looted a local Greggs and a soap shop and were up in court the following day.

There will always be idiots looking for a fight, or an excuse to set fire to their community, in every country in the world. What’s happened here is that a few antagonists, amplified by Twitter bots and Telegram networks took one of the worst imaginable events, the murder of three young girls in a dance class and falsely suggested it was a consequence of illegal immigration.

That kind of disinformation is the real threat here. Hostile state actors and ultra right-wing fanatics want to sow the seeds of anarchy and lawlessness in our communities.

Scotland has been mercifully spared, but I have been dismayed by how that reality has in itself been twisted to suit the political agendas of people who should know better. A wing of the Scottish nationalist movement has been very active online over the past few days, trying to pull some moral equivalence out of the riots to suit their own narrative.

Their implication is that because there have been no riots in Scotland, we are somehow morally better and by extension, they are using this as evidence of the need for Scottish independence.

This is an appalling take on several levels. It belittles or even seeks to airbrush out entirely the incidents of Islamophobia or anti-immigrant hate that do happen in Scotland. We have racists in Scotland too. These online nationalists need to have a lie down in a darkened room so they can come to the realisation, this isn’t about them.

What we need now is calm and space for the police to do their work both in finding justice and answers for the victims and loved ones of the Southport murders and in bringing an end to these days of lawlessness. I’m confident that the arc of justice will be swift and leave these racist thugs in no doubt that they would have been better off watching the athletics.

Alex Cole-Hamilton is MSP for Edinburgh Western and Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats