POLICE are appealing for witnesses after a man said he suffered racist and homophobic abuse while photographing a “statue protection” protest in Glasgow.

The incident took place between 1.30pm and 2pm on Sunday, June 14 when the 34-year-old was in George Square near the Counting House bar.

Hundreds of people were taking part in an event at the time, organised by the Loyalist Defence League to protect a statue of Metropolitan Police founder Sir Robert Peel.

It came after a protest was organised calling for the statue’s removal.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon later branded scenes of disorder at the event as “utterly shameful”.

The original rally, organised by the Glasgow Youth Art Collective, was postponed.

During the incident, two men approached the man while he was taking photographs and began to hurl racist and homophobic abuse at him.

He moved away towards the south-west of George Square, near Greggs, where he was surrounded by a group of youths who verbally abused and assaulted him. The man then made his way to North Frederick Street to leave the protest when he was further racially abused by another group of three men.

Detective inspector Sarah McArthur said. “This was a frightening experience for the victim.

“The disorder that occurred that day is unacceptable and retrospective inquiries continue.

“I would appeal to the law-abiding people who were in George Square that day who may have witnessed this assault or have any information on the males involved to contact us. Any information could assist us in piecing together exactly what happened and identify those responsible.”

Officers are studying CCTV footage from that day for any additional information it may provide. Limited information about the suspects describes them as white men, mostly wearing dark coloured clothing.

One man was wearing an orange jacket, one was wearing a white top with stripes and a further man was wearing a dark jacket with the hood up and a scarf covering his face.