The number of religious hate crimes recorded in Scotland rose by 10% in the past year - with the majority targeted at Roman Catholics

New figures from the Scottish government show that there were 693 charges aggravated by religious prejudice in 2010/2011 - the highest in four years. The data shows that 58% of these were against Catholics with 37% of recorded crimes against Protestants. Some 2.3% related to Judaism and 2.1% related to Islam. The figures show that there were recorded religious hate crimes in 27 out of Scotland's 32 local authority areas with the majority - 79% - taking place in the Strathclyde police force area. About 51% of charges were in the Glasgow City Council area. Outside the city, there were high numbers in North Lanarkshire, West Lothian, South Lanarkshire and Falkirk. Religious hate crime was not recorded in Aberdeenshire, Shetland, Orkney, Western Isles and East Lothian. One-third of the total 693 charges were made in football grounds. Of those, 47 (52%) were at Celtic Park and 24 (27%) were at Ibrox. Fewer than 5% of the charges related to marches and parades. In just over 60% of cases, the accused had consumed alcohol prior to the offense. Police officers were the most common victims of religious hate crime, accounting for 42% of the incidents. These often referred to incidents where someone had been arrested and subsequently abused a police officer in religiously offensive terms. The general community was targeted in almost a third of the cases and members of the public in just over a fifth of the cases. Workers, such as hospital staff, security staff and taxi drivers, were targeted in just over 10% of charges. The data relates to charges under Section 74 of the Criminal Justice Scotland Act 2003. It was published following a pledge from First Minister Alex Salmond. The legislation defines a religiously aggravated offence as an incident where the offender evinces towards the victim "malice and ill-will based on the victim's membership (or perceived membership) of a religious group or a social or cultural group with a perceived religious affiliation", or, the offense is motivated by the same.