SW News: In Scotland, a 31-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting a Catholic priest while he was praying in a cathedral in Edinburgh. The accused named Jason Irvine was held in Cumbria and he has been charged with assault. After being produced in court, the accused was remanded in custody.

The archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh said on July 27 that a Catholic priest was assaulted on Monday morning without any provocation in St Mary’s cathedral while he was praying. The assailant asked the victim if he was a priest and then tried to club him on the head with a glass bottle. However, the priest was unhurt.

When the priest moved to the back of the cathedral, the attacker chased him and in the melee, the bottle fell on the ground and broke. When he tried to attack again with the broken bottle, the priest fended him off with a chair. The assailant then fled from the scene.

Irvine has also been charged with another assault in another part of the city on Monday. There are reports that indicate that of all hate crimes committed in Scotland half of them are directed at the Catholic Church and they include assault of priests and vandalizing sacred statues and churches.