Demonstrations have been held in Falkirk almost a year after groups clashed outside a former hotel which was housing asylum seekers.

Anti-immigration group Voices for Falkirk gathered outside the Cladhan Hotel – the scene of several clashes last summer - on Saturday as part of an event under the banner "The Right Unites".

Meanwhile, pro-immigration demonstrators Falkirk For All and Stand Up To Racism took part in a unity march through the town.

The two groups briefly came together near a bandstand but were separated by police before dispersing.

BBC Scotland News understands the Cladhan is no longer being used as accommodation for asylum seekers.

Officers were deployed in order to avoid a repeat of scenes in Glasgow last month when anti-racism and anti-immigration protesters clashed on Glasgow Green.

The Cladhan was the site of several demonstrations last summer, which were attended by hundreds of people on both sides, and led to multiple arrests.

Protests have continued over the past year, despite asylum seekers being moved out of the hotel.

The pro-immigration demo began at Callendar House before a march to the centre of the town and featured about 200 people.

Karen Morrison, organiser for the Unison union in the Forth Valley, said the march was about building community after the events of last summer.

"I understand why people are angry," she said.

"But they are angry at the wrong people. Asylum seekers are not to blame for the ills of our society, social housing, jobs; we need to go back into communities to help people understand that.

"We want to send a message of hope, that things can get better and we don't need to be fighting each other."

Figures from the Home Office showed that 6,587 people were seeking asylum in Scotland as of 31 March this year.

More than half of those are based in Glasgow.

Protests last year were inflamed by the conviction of an asylum seeker from Afghanistan for raping a 15-year-old girl in the town.

Sadeq Nikzad was jailed for nine years at the High Court in Livingston last June following the attack in October 2023.

Earlier this week, Muhammad Sheikhi, 23, a former resident at the Cladhan was jailed for four years for sexually assaulting two women in Falkirk in November last year.

A group of anti-immigration protesters set up flags and banners opposite the hotel on Saturday.

BBC Scotland News made several attempts to speak to someone involved in that demonstration.

One protester called for the UK to leave the UN convention on refugees and impose mandatory jail sentences on those crossing the English channel to seek asylum.

He said the issue had continued to divide communities.