SCOTTISH First Minister John Swinney was heckled and told he had blood on his hands by a pro-Palestine protester while on stage at a book festival event.

Towards the end of a discussion event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Tuesday evening, a woman stood up in the audience and challenged Mr Swinney over one of his ministers’ meeting with Israel’s deputy ambassador Daniela Grudsky.

She accused him of giving money through Scottish Enterprise to companies “complicit in Gaza,” calling for Mr Swinney and External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson to resign over the latter’s meeting with Israel’s deputy ambassador.