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A fire at a Glasgow tenement wrongly believed to be preparing to house refugees was started deliberately, police have said.

Emergency services were called to Stoneyhurst Street in the Possilpark area of the city on Sunday, with efforts to tackle the blaze continuing into Monday.

Speculation had spread online that the fire had been started deliberately over concerns the building would be used to house asylum seekers, a claim which has been rejected by operator NG Homes.

On Monday, police confirmed the fire appears to have been started deliberately, and appealed for witnesses to come forward.

"The fire is being treated as wilful and we are asking anyone who saw anything suspicious around the time of the incident to get in touch," Detective Inspector Neil Martin said.

"Fortunately, no one was injured but this kind of reckless activity is not acceptable and caused serious disruption in the area.

"Please also check any private CCTV that you have and let us know if something has been captured that could assist with our investigation.

"Likewise, if you were driving in the area, check dashcam and call us if you have footage that could assist."

Earlier on Monday - before police had confirmed they were treating the fire as deliberate - First Minister John Swinney said "all the force of the law" would be applied to find and punish the perpetrators.

Speaking to the Press Association in Glasgow, the First Minister said: "The cause of the fire is not yet known, there will have to be a full investigation by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

"But I am familiar with the information that´s been circulating about the suggestion that this could have been wilful fireraising, because of concern that the accommodation was to host migrants.

"Now, whether that´s the case or not, it is completely and utterly unacceptable, because wilful fireraising is a criminal offence in our society.

"Those involved should be apprehended, whatever the circumstances and whether this accommodation was to be used to house migrants or not, this type of behaviour is completely and utterly unacceptable and it must be addressed."

He added: "What we´ve got to face here is that if this type of information has been circulated, behaviour of this type is being perpetrated, it has got to be apprehended and people have to understand if they´re going to be involved in racist activity, which is involving potentially wilful fireraising and any other threats to community safety, then all of the force of the law will be applied against them, because that behaviour is unacceptable in our society.

"The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Police Scotland, will have my strongest support in making sure those responsible, if that is the circumstances, will be apprehended."

Local Labour MSP Paul Sweeney had also confirmed he was part of a group of local politicians who had secured nearly £3 million in investment to bring the previously derelict tenement back into use for those on housing waiting lists, before the fire.

"It was never going to illegal immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers - it was never intended for that purpose at all," he said on Facebook.

"So anyone claiming that was spreading lies, misinformation, to generate clicks on social media, to whip up the community, wind people up and this is the upshot of it - we´ve got potential massive multimillion-pound investment being destroyed in the midst of a socially deprived community like this one in Possilpark, outrageous after so much effort."

Housing association NG Homes, which owns the building, said: "We are aware that disinformation has circulated regarding the future use of the homes and would once again stress that these claims are false.

"The buildings are being refurbished to provide much-needed affordable homes and, as we have previously stated, these properties will be allocated in line with our allocations policy and Scottish housing legislation from our existing housing list.

"As a registered social landlord, we do not allocate housing to people who are not legally eligible for it, and all applications are assessed in accordance with the relevant legal requirements."

The statement said the extent of the damage to the block was still being assessed, and that it was too early to confirm the impact of the fire on the refurbishment.