The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act aims to tackle the harm caused by hatred and prejudice but has come under fire from opponents who claim the new laws could stifle free speech.
The number of hate crime complaints made to Police Scotland has dropped by almost 75% in the second week of new legislation coming into force. From 8-14 April, the force received 1,832 online hate reports - down from 7,152 the previous week . Of these, 213 were recorded as hate crimes and 25 were logged as non-crime hate incidents , meaning they did not meet the threshold for a criminal offence. Police Scotland said the vast majority of reports received during this period were anonymous.
Speaking at the annual Scottish Trades Union Congress conference in Dundee later in the day, Mr Yousaf insisted the legislation is being enforced in a 'proportionate' way. He said: 'The people who have not been given so much airtime are, of course, the everyday victims of hate crime - of which we know there are far too many in our society.
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