A PRIEST was attacked by a man carrying a glass bottle in a “violent and unprovoked assault” in an Edinburgh cathedral, according to the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.
The priest had been sitting alone praying in St Mary's RC Cathedral, York Place. The church said the man first asked if he was a priest. “When the priest replied that he was, the man attempted to hit him on the head with the bottle, before chasing him to the back of the cathedral,” they reported.
Although the bottle broke during the incident, the man continued to use is during the assault, they said. “The priest managed to fend him off with a chair before the attacker ran out of the Cathedral,” the church said in a statement. “The priest escaped without injury.”
A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “Around 9.35am on Monday, 26 July, police were called to a report of a 35-year-old man being assaulted within a Church in York Place, Edinburgh.
“Officers attended and the victim did not require hospital treatment.
“Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident and anyone with information is urged to contact Police Scotland through 101, quoting incident number 0823 of Monday, 26 July, 2021.”
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