Lib Dem councillor grabbed by throat in Edinburgh street attack

Councillor Kevin Lang called on political parties to unite against attacks on politicians

An Edinburgh councillor was grabbed by the throat in a street attack while delivering his local newsletter.

Liberal Democrat Kevin Lang said he was very shaken up after being confronted by a man "hurling verbal abuse" at him.

He was delivering leaflets in his Almond ward at about 11:10 when the attack happened.

Police Scotland said they had been made aware of the assault and inquiries were ongoing to establish the full circumstances.

Mr Lang said his attacker had put his hand to this throat before pushing the leaflet down his shirt.

The man then continued to scream abuse at Mr Lang as he walked away.

"In many ways it was over in seconds, it felt a lot longer but I'm sure it was merely a matter of seconds and I found it such a shocking incident," he said.

'Going back out there'

Mr Lang added that he had become used to "insults" and "angry people" over the 25 years he had been involved in politics but had never had someone put their hands on him before.

The councillor said: "I made the point of finishing my delivery, and I am going to be back out there because I'm incredibly proud of being a councillor.

"I'm not going to let anyone stop me from doing the job that I was tasked with doing.

"The risk is that if this kind of abuse is tolerated then good people from different political wings don't stand - or even leave politics all together."

He added that political parties should unite on calling out this kind of abuse and work together to stop it from happening.

Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Alex Cole-Hamilton called the attack "completely unacceptable".