MSP Humza tells of race hate fears
GLASGOW MSP Humza Yousaf has revealed that he carries a personal attack alarm after receiving racist death threats.
The Scottish Transport Minister also beefed up security at his house and his constituency office, and no longer conducts surgeries alone.
He spoke out after Labour MSP Anas Sarwar claimed he had suffered racial abuse when he stood in the Scottish Labour leadership contest last year.
SCOTTISH Transport Minister Humza Yousaf said racist threats had left him so “worried” about his safety and that of his family that he carries an personal attack alarm as “par for the course”.
Mr Yousaf has also beefed up security at his house and his constituency office and no longer conducts surgeries alone.
The politician, who was the first Holyrood minister to come from an ethnic minority background, told how he had received a private briefing from the police on security after reporting some incidents.
He also insisted the abuse he faced had worsened since the vote for Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as US President.
The Transport Minister highlighted a social media post showing a picture of him and his family, with the caption “Yet another problem that a machine gun would solve” as an example of the abuse he has had to deal with.
He spoke out after Labour MSP Anas Sarwar claimed that he had suffered racial abuse when he stood in the Scottish Labour leadership contest last year.
Mr Sarwar, a Glasgow MSP who lost out to left-winger Richard Leonard, claimed an elected councillor had told him he could not support him because he was a “brown, Muslim Paki”.
Mr Yousaf, the MSP for Glasgow Pollok, said: “I get worried about my family. I’ve had a private briefing from police on the back of reporting some incidents.
“They said these are the steps that you might want to take to protect your constituency office and so forth. It’s not a place you want to be in.”