The former first minister of Scotland has accused the Conservative party of “deliberately trying to fuel hatred” against asylum seekers.
Yousaf said by presenting asylum seekers as a threat to women and children, politicians like Robert Jenrick were “reviving the old colonial lie that people from the east are somehow dangerous savages”.
Mr Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has said he supports “every peaceful protest outside an asylum hotel” and later attended one in Epping, where an asylum seeker was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Demonstrations against asylum seekers staying in hotels have sprung up across the UK, including in Scotland, with those attending claiming they are making their communities less safe.
Mr Jenrick, who previously ran for the Tory leadership, said small boat crossings in the English Channel amounted to a “national security emergency”, adding: “The truth is that mass, uncontrolled immigration has been fuelling crime and made women and girls less safe. ”
In a video posted to social media, Mr Yousaf hit back at the Tory claims, saying it was “predatory men” who posed a danger to women, rather than people from any one group, such as asylum seekers.
He said: “As a father of three girls, let me tell you that it’s not asylum seekers I’m worried about when it comes to my daughter’s safety – it’s men, predatory men, who come in every colour, every religion, are from every background.
“Of course, those who do commit heinous crimes against women, be they asylum seekers or those who have lived in the UK for 10 generations, they should and must feel the full force of the law.
“But when you purposely single out asylum seekers, as the Tories are doing, you’re not interested in protecting women, you’re deliberately trying to fuel hatred.
“You’re reviving the old colonial lie that people from the east are somehow dangerous savages.”
The former SNP leader said such rhetoric has turned “fear into mobs who are ready to set fire to hotels housing asylum seekers”, in reference to a riot in Rotherham last year in which a man who attempted to set fire to an asylum hotel.
“It leads to bricks through windows,” he added. “It leads to fire bombs aimed at vulnerable families who’ve already fled war and persecution.
“And here’s the truth, violence against women is committed by men from every walk of life.
“Blaming asylum seekers doesn’t make women safer, it just makes society more divided, more suspicious, more willing to turn on the most vulnerable.
“What the Tories are doing isn’t about women’s safety, it’s about stoking fear. It’s the oldest populist trick in the book, let’s make sure we don’t fall.”
The Conservative Party has been approached for comment.
