By Gemma Fraser
Head of content
An increase in protests across Scotland has led to a police overtime bill of £1.1 million and almost 3,000 cancelled rest days for officers, new figures have revealed.
The trend is putting Police Scotland under increasing pressure, with the force describing the demand as “intensive and consistent” and warning of a “significant impact” on officer welfare.
The number of protests where officers were deployed rose by 19 per cent in 2025 compared to the previous year, with 2,190 requiring a police presence.
The warning comes as it emerged that 2,888 rest days have been cancelled to police protests since last August, when Operation Leste was set up to deal with the new pressure.
In the 2025/26 financial year, this resulted in an overtime bill of around £1.1 million, with the cost sitting at £330,000 in the year to date.
In a presentation to the Scottish Police Authority, Assistant Chief Constable Alan Waddell said: “Since 2025, Police Scotland has experienced a significant change in the protest landscape, with officers managing the direct impact of, and real time reactions to, international conflicts, UK incidents and public and political commentary.”
He continued: “This sustained demand has a significant impact on officer welfare and wellbeing, particularly where scheduled rest days are repeatedly cancelled, often at short notice.”
The majority of protests take place in Edinburgh and Glasgow, but the spread of activity across Scotland has grown so much in the last 18 months that towns not usually associated with public gatherings are now playing host to them.
There have been nearly 150 anti-immigration protests, often triggering counter-protests. This includes incidents outside the Cladhan Hotel in Falkirk, which has housed asylum seekers.
“This sustained demand has a significant impact on officer welfare and wellbeing, particularly where scheduled rest days are repeatedly cancelled, often at short notice”
Assistant Chief Constable Alan Waddell
At the end of July, a large scale anti-racism and anti-immigration protest and counter-protest took place in Glasgow, with around 1,700 people in attendance.
This led to “disparate groups” carrying out acts of violence, disorder, intimidation and hate-motivated offences, and included a large group of around 100 people who made their way through the city centre.
Fifteen people were arrested for a range of offences including assault, possession of offensive weapons, breach of the peace, obstruction, and resisting arrest. Several weapons were also recovered.
“Protests which involve a counter protest are often the most challenging to police,” said Waddell. “Anti-immigration protests attracted significantly more counter protests than other protest themes.”
David Threadgold, chair of the Scottish Police Federation, raised concerns about the number of cancelled rest days, describing the situation as “unsustainable”.
He told 1919: “On every single one of these occasions, a cop who is planning for a day off to see their families, to recover, to rest, is seeing those plans interrupted at short notice by the service because they have to respond to this demand. That has the obvious impact of increased stress and sickness.
“It’s unsustainable. This is a relatively new policing demand. We didn’t have this level of pre-planned protests two or three years ago, so the service is having to respond to it.
“A lot of the resource required to deal with pre-planned protests will be specialist resource, whether it’s public order, evidence-gatherers or whatever, which is quite a finite resource, so you’re going back to the same people time and time again to get them to commit to working on their days off.
“It’s bearing out in the absence figures we’re seeing across the organisation, which are sitting at between nine and 11 per cent on average.
“The consequences of the delivery of policing these protests across the country has a huge ripple effect.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Yi-pei Chou Turvey said it is “little wonder” that officers feel overwhelmed.
“The SNP government is increasingly expecting Police Scotland to do far more with far less,” she claimed. “If this continues, more and more police officers will head to the door. The current situation is simply untenable.
“I will be using my position in this new parliament to persuade the Scottish Government to finally step up and support Scottish policing. That starts by properly resourcing our justice system and meeting the needs of officers and staff.”
Scottish Labour justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill added: “The level of cuts to police numbers and budgets since the formation of Police Scotland in 2013, and the impact of this on officers – including increased absences for stress and further strain on departments – is resulting in extreme pressure on our police officers.
“It is absolutely essential that people are able to protest freely and safely – and police presence is a significant part of enabling this – but protesters and police officers should not be subject to violence or abuse at these protests.
“Peaceful protest is an essential part of our democracy and they should be supported to happen.
“Where rest days are consistently cancelled and the workload on individual officers is not sustainable, this is unsustainable and unacceptable. We need to look at the pressures being put on the wider force and the consistent cuts they have faced under the SNP.”
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Stephen Kerr accused ministers of taking police goodwill “for granted”.
“The right to peaceful protest is a fundamental part of any democracy. But the sheer volume of protests now taking place is placing an increasingly unsustainable strain on Police Scotland,” he said.
“Years of SNP under-resourcing have left Police Scotland without the resilience it needs to cope with growing demands. Ministers cannot continue relying on the professionalism and goodwill of officers who are repeatedly asked to work overtime, lose their rest days and shoulder ever greater pressures.
“This is not simply about the number of officers deployed on the ground. Every major protest, high-profile visit or significant public event requires experienced inspectors, chief inspectors, superintendents and chief superintendents to be taken away from their day-to-day responsibilities to oversee these operations.
“Those are finite leadership resources, and every time they are diverted the impact is felt across policing, from neighbourhood teams and investigations, to the supervision and support of frontline officers.”
He continued: “Everyone has a responsibility to ensure that peaceful protest remains exactly that.
“When demonstrations descend into violence and disorder, as we saw in Glasgow last month, the pressure on policing increases exponentially, diverting even more officers and specialist resources away from protecting communities across Scotland.
“Police Scotland will always step up when required. But a service that is continually expected to do more with less cannot provide the resilience Scotland needs.
“SNP ministers must stop taking that professionalism for granted and give the service the resources and leadership it needs to keep communities safe.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Scotland’s police officers do an outstanding job in often challenging circumstances, including policing a growing number of protests and major events, and ministers are grateful for their dedication and hard work.
“While deployment is an operational matter, we are investing record funding of more than £1.7 billion in policing in 2026/27.
“The Chief Constable has confirmed that this investment will enable Police Scotland to maintain officer numbers at 16,500 while continuing to prioritise frontline services.
“Scotland continues to have more police officers per capita than England and Wales, and recorded crime has fallen by almost half since 1991.
“The right to peaceful public assembly and freedom of expression are important rights that the Scottish Government is committed to upholding. However, this should never be used to justify any form of hateful, violent, intimidating, or otherwise criminal behaviour.
“Health and welfare remain a priority for Police Scotland, with support available through their Employee Assistance and Your Wellbeing Matters programme.”