Edinburgh, June 25 (IANS): First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is holding a cabinet meeting on Saturday to discuss the Scottish government's response to Britain's vote to leave the European Union (EU).

The historic referendum on Thursday saw Scotland, London and Northern Ireland vote in favour of 'Remain' - while England and Wales backed 'Leave', BBC reported.

Scotland voted in favour of Britain staying in the EU by 62 per cent to 38 per cent, but the UK as a whole voted to leave by a margin of 51.9 per cent to 48.1 percent.

Sturgeon said it was "democratically unacceptable" that Scotland faced being taken out of the EU against its will.

She said a second independence referendum was "highly likely".

Hundreds of people protested against the EU result in Glasgow and Edinburgh on Friday evening.

Sturgeon said there was now a "significant divergence" between Scotland and the rest of Britain which she "deeply regretted".

She said the meeting of the Scottish cabinet would "discuss our next steps in more detail".