The First Minister said that he would weigh up imposing restrictions after protesters surged towards the Radisson Blu Hotel in Perth , home to asylum seekers, and banged on the windows, The Courier reports.
Two of Perth’s asylum hotels have been the site of several protests since August 2025.
Police separated anti-immigration demonstrators and counter-protesters after a stand off between the two sides on Saturday but there were no arrests.
Perth MP Pete Wishart (below) said the anti-immigration demonstration was “disgraceful” and called for buffer zones to be introduced outside asylum accommodation.
SNP deputy Westminster leader Pete Wishart (Image: PA)
Swinney echoed Wishart’s condemnation of the actions of Perth’s Peaceful Protest, an anti-immigration group which on Saturday was joined by members of the Aberdeen Against Illegal Migration and Dundee Patriots groups.
The First Minister, whose constituency is Perthshire North, told The Courier he would raise the behaviour at Saturday’s protest with Police Scotland.
He said: “The behaviour at the hotel in Perth on Saturday by those opposed to the hotel was absolutely disgusting.
“The behaviour, the language, the physical actions, were totally and completely unacceptable.
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“As the constituency member for the area, I intend to raise with the chief constable the nature of that event to make sure that all my constituents who want to protect those who have sought asylum in this country from this vile amount of abuse can be protected in exercising their democratic rights.
“So I’ll be raising that with the chief constable, and I think the points raised by Pete Wishart need to be considered.
“They will need to be legislated for and that’s not quick but I understand entirely why Pete Wishart has raised this because of the appalling nature of the behaviour on Saturday.”
Buffer zones, or Safe Access Zones, have already been introduced around abortion clinics in Scotland . They are designed to protect those accessing the building from harassment or abuse.
Demonstrators hold an ‘abortion clinic buffer zone’ protest outside the Scottish Parliament (Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Wishart, who attended Saturday’s demonstration as a counter-protester, said: “What we saw in Perth last week was disgraceful and cannot be allowed to happen again.
“Protesters, many of whom were bused in from other parts of Scotland, came with the sole intention to intimidate and harass.
“Banging on the hotel windows and hurling abuse through loudspeakers is not ‘peaceful protest’, it is aggression, and it has absolutely no place in our city.
“The people living in these hotels deserve basic safety and dignity, not mobs outside their door.
“Perth is a welcoming city, and we will not allow it to be turned into a venue for the far-right’s rage and bigotry.
“The time has come to consider decisive action to prevent this from happening again.
“That must include looking seriously at buffer or exclusion zones around asylum accommodation.
“This would of course require legislation, but the right to protest does not extend to harassment or threatening behaviour, and that line has certainly been crossed following Saturday’s events.”