Political leaders in Scotland have condemned the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, with First Minister John Swinney branding the shooting “unacceptable”.
Mr Swinney spoke out after Mr Trump said a bullet “pierced” part of his ear in the incident, which happened at a campaign rally in the US.The suspected gunman was killed while the Secret Service confirmed one person in the crowd had died, with two others “critically injured”
The Republican is attempting to return to the White House in November’s presidential elections, with Saturday’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, part of his re-election campaign.
Anas Sarwar (Image: PA)
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “appalled” by the shooting, while in Scotland the First Minister made clear such violence had “no place in a democratic society”.
READ MORE: Greens demand probe of Trump's Scottish assets after NY fraud case
READ MORE: Does Joe Biden need to stay in race to prevent next Hitler?
Responding to the attack on X, formerly known as Twitter, the SNP leader said: “There is no place for violence in society including in our politics.
“The attack on President Trump has no place in a democratic society.
“My thoughts are with all those affected by this unacceptable incident.”
Other political leaders in Scotland also condemned the shooting, with Labour’s Anas Sarwar speaking out about the “horrific scenes at the Trump rally last night”.
Mr Trump, who was US president between 2017 and 2021, is seeking to return to the White House (Image: PA)
The Scottish Labour leader added: “In a democracy there must be the ability to disagree without it turning to hatred or violence.
“My thoughts are with President Trump, his family and all those impacted.
“I know my American friends will be hurting today, sending love.”
Outgoing Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross joined them in condemning the “shocking scenes from the US with this assassination attempt on the former president”.
Mr Ross added: “Our thoughts are with the innocent people killed and injured in Pennsylvania.
“In democracies, appalling violence like this will never prevail.”
Meanwhile Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton made clear there is “no place for political violence in any democracy”.
He added: “The Trump assassination attempt is an appalling act.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel