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Those behind the “deplorable” fire at a tenement in Glasgow wrongly believed to be preparing to house refugees will be pursued by police, John Swinney has vowed.

The First Minister condemned the blaze at the flats on Stoneyhurst Street in the Possilpark area of the city as an “absolute disgrace”.

The blaze, believed to be malicious, started on Sunday, with efforts to tackle it continuing into Monday.

During backbench First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood on Tuesday, Labour MSP Paul Sweeney said the “disgraceful attack” on his community was “a result of months of malicious online lies on social media intended to whip-up community tensions”.

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

Mr Swinney described the fire-starting as “absolutely deplorable”, and added: “The fact that that has arisen because of the spreading of misinformation about the fact that that accommodation was to be used by migrants is a further disgrace.

“Those who are responsible for the action will be pursued, those who were circulating information to incite this behaviour will be pursued, and those who have been responsible for celebrating such behaviour will also be pursued by Police Scotland.

“I want to make it clear to Parliament today that when we are wrestling with housing challenges in our country, for people to go around wasting public money by setting flats on fire that are being renovated is an absolute disgrace and it undermines the efforts to improve the quality of life by providing good housing for members of the public in Scotland.

“Everyone who is involved in this inciting of racial tension to stir this up, to lead to the destruction of good accommodation, are a disgrace, and they will be pursued by Police Scotland.”

Police Scotland Detective Inspector Neil Martin said on Monday: “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.

“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.”