An advocacy body has launched a helpline for anyone arrested or contacted by Police Scotland after controversial hate crime legislation was rolled out north of the border.

The Free Speech Union, headed up by conservative commentator Toby Young, claimed the organisation acquired an additional 1,000 Scottish members last week.

Scotland's Hate Crime and Public Order Act was enacted on April 1.

FSU signed a deal with legal firm Levy & McRae fund them to represent free speech cases arising from the new legislation.

The new legislation outlaws "stirring up" hate based on race, age, religion, disability and transgender identity.

Young claimed the decision to set-up the hotline would help anyone finding themselves in trouble with police.

He told The Times: "Almost 1,000 new Scottish members have joined in the past fortnight, most of them women.

"We felt we needed to put a hotline in place in case any of them get into trouble with the police about something they’ve said.

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"If they’re arrested or interviewed under caution for something speech-related, we will do our best to get them a lawyer."

Callum Steele, the former general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said that around 3,800 cases were logged within the first 24 hours of the act coming into force Monday.

The Scottish Tories have claimed that if the rate continues for the next 12 months, a total of 1.387 million crimes will be reported during 2024/2025 financial year.

However, SNP Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown stressed "misinformation and hysteria" have led to wrongful assumptions about the legislation.

Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf also said: "It's not a huge surprise that when legislation is first introduced there can sometimes be a flurry of vexatious complaints.

"We've obviously seen that and I would say to people don't make vexatious complaints - you should desist - because what you're doing is wasting precious police resources and time.

"But I am very, very concerned about the fact that we have seen those complaints, but at the same time I know that police are very adept at dealing with vexatious complaints, they do it every day and they know how to treat them."

Yousaf, who served as Justice Secretary when Nicola Sturgeon's Government passed the controversial legislation, was targeted by racist graffiti near his Dundee home.