Scotland's youngest councillor has spoken of his "shock and sadness" after he was singled out for homophobic abuse by loyalists in George Square.

The SNP's Austin Sheridan, 21, videoed the tirade by two men, who screamed insults in his face after he left Glasgow City Chambers on Friday evening, as hardline loyalists gathered in George Square to celebrate their win in the independence referendum.

The shocking footage posted publicly on Facebook by the young politician has now been shared more than 22,000 times.

It shows a heavy-set man approaching Sheridan with clenched fists held above his head screaming: "You can stick your independence up your arse. No surrender. We are the people."

He then turned on the councillor's companion and shouted: "Scum, scum, nationalist scum.".

A second man then joined in the abuse, screaming: "It's not your f**king country. Why don't you f**k off? Scotland said no, you f**king poofter. F**k off."

Sheridan was wearing two badges that indicated support for the Yes campaign when he was targeted in Cochrane Street.

He said: "I felt quite intimidated by the crowds with Union flags so I thought I would video what was going on, just for my own safety. And then obviously those guys walked towards me and it all happened.

"I had a badge on that says 'I only kiss boys who vote Yes', so that's probably how they knew I am gay.

"I'm not angry at the men but I am shocked and sad - shocked in the sense that they were so aggressive and sad that there are people out there who are so divisive.

"I actually removed my badges afterwards because I felt unsafe. I wanted to avoid trouble.

"We shouldn't have to do that in a democracy, but at the end of the day it was the sensible thing to do."

The Baillieston councillor tried to report the abuse he received to officers on the scene but they were too overwhelmed to speak to him.

Yesterday, Sheridan said he was to speak to police and present them with the evidence. Later on, Police Scotland said its officers were to proactively contact him regarding homophobic abuse.

He said: "At the time they were struggling to keep things under control. They were under a lot of pressure and were outnumbered.

"I think they felt intimidated too because there was only a small number at the very beginning and there were huge crowds of angry unionists coming towards them, shouting and swearing."

As a stand-off began between unionists and nationalists, Sheridan went to George Square and warned Yes supporters to leave.

He said: "They shouldn't have been in danger but the reality was they were and sometimes you have to put your head before your heart. The unionists clearly wanted a reaction. Anybody standing in a square burning Saltires is looking for a reaction.

"It made me feel sad because the one thing I've always believed is, no matter what people believe about the constitution, we can always unite under the Saltire because it's the flag of our nation and you don't have to be a nationalist or somebody who supports independence to be proud of your Saltire, to be patriotic.

"But to be honest, I don't think these are the sort of people who sit down and think about the morality of what they're doing. They were there for one reason only and that was to cause trouble and to intimidate."

Sheridan was clear that the No campaign was a separate entity, far removed from the violence and aggression seen in the city.

He added: "I know fine well the majority of people who voted No will want to distance themselves from this behaviour."