JOHN Swinney has called out a "wilful" fireraising incident at a Glasgow tenement block which allegedly followed far-right groups spreading misinformation it was being renovated to house asylum seekers.
At around 5pm on Sunday, fire crews were called out to the blaze in Stonyhurst Street in the Possilpark area.
Six fire engines and specialist resources were sent to tackle the fire, and two remained there on Monday morning, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service confirmed.
The “Spartan Child Protection Team”, a hard-right vigilante group, said in a Facebook video while the fire was burning that the building had been “the source of a lot of chat that it’s being refurbished to house unvetted migrants”.
The developer behind the building renovation, NG Homes, had last month made clear in a public statement that the refurbishment was to provide housing for local people on waiting lists.
While Swinney made clear the cause of the fire is not yet known and there will be an investigation, he said it was an "utterly unacceptable" incident as he voiced concerns around misinformation reports.
He told LBC: "The cause of the fire is not yet known and there will have to be a full investigation by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, but I've seen the reports about alleged misinformation about the purpose of the accommodation being used to asylum seekers.
"Whether the accommodation is to be used for that purpose or not, it is completely and utterly unacceptable for any wilful fireraising to take place.
Scotland’s FM brands scenes at protests in Dover & Portsmouth as “absolutely disturbing” - @LBC Says: “This is thuggish behaviour on the streets of the UK, it has no place in a democracy” Also comments on fire starting in Glasgow allegedly due to misinformation ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/rWRxj1poxv
— Alan Zycinski (@AlanJZycinski) September 7, 2026
"It's a criminal offence, those responsible will be pursued and will be apprehended, because we have got to make sure everyone is safe in Scottish society and that will not happen if people are engaging in wilful fireraising on the basis of rumours or any other information."
A spokesperson for Spartan Child Protection Team said in the video: “The community had asked many times who are you refurbing it for, is it for local people who have been on housing lists for years, or is it for somebody else, and they were declined answers many times … so it now looks like something or somebody has taken it upon themselves to destroy that building.”
Under the Spartan Child Protection Team video, people celebrated the fire.
Elsewhere, on X/Twitter, one prominent far-right account shared a video of the fire and wrote: “Migrant apartment block fire in Glasgow now OUT OF CONTROL. Whole block will burn to the ground.
“The council promised these flats for locals, then changed their mind and give them to migrants. And now they're burning down. The people have spoken. NO MORE MIGRANTS.”
Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney hit out at those celebrating the fire, saying: “People spreading malicious disinformation are trying to wreck the improvement of our community in Possilpark. Listen to the facts.”
