Glasgow boy arrested for 'inciting riots' on Facebook - The Guardian

A 16-year-old boy is due to appear in a Glasgow sheriff court on Wednesday for allegedly inciting riots in the city using Facebook.

Strathclyde police said the youth was detained following a raid on a property in the south of the city on Tuesday after a posting appeared on Facebook inviting people to follow the rioting and looting in English cities.

It emerged on Tuesday that a Facebook user from Cessnock, south Glasgow, had proclaimed himself "the most hated man in Glasgow" after he set up a page called "Glasgow Riot Friday 12th August 2011" on Monday evening.

He wrote on Facebook that he had been visited by police..

Early on Tuesday, he added: "Most hated man in Glasgow by any chance? Haha am (sic) all over Twitter n Google"

The page was quickly closed down after dozens of other Facebook users in Glasgow attacked his actions, adding phone numbers for Crimestoppers and reporting him to Facebook.

Strathclyde police said it had no intelligence to suggest there was any trouble planned in its area, but was "continuing to monitor the situation".

It urged members of the public to call the police if they learned of any plans to cause or incite disturbances.

Fiona Taylor, a Strathclyde assistant chief constable, said the force was closely watching social networking sites after it emerged that Twitter and Facebook, but particularly untraceable messages using the BlackBerry smart phone messaging service, had played a significant role in organising many disturbances.

In a statement, Taylor said: "This detention shows that we are monitoring the situation closely and we will take decisive action to prevent anyone inciting violence of any kind in Glasgow or anywhere else in the force area.

"Communities in London and other cities in England have been outraged at the disgraceful scenes of destruction and looting that they have witnessed, and we are sure that communities here would be just as horrified to think that anyone was trying to incite similar acts of mindless criminality.

"The action we took today should act as a strong warning to anyone who is thinking of causing trouble here."

In response to the unprecedented pressure on police forces in England, Scottish chief constables have offered to send reinforcements.

The Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland said the Scottish police's information and coordination centre was identifying spare officers and specialist resources if they were requested by forces south of the border.