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Glasgow airport incident
01/07/2007
First Minister Alex Salmond said:
"Scottish government Ministers have met again this morning in the Scottish Executive Emergency Room in St Andrew's House to discuss the situation.
"The SEER operation is operating on a 24-hour basis, and a range of other frontline staff including fire, ambulance and health service workers have worked through the night to support the police at the scene and help get people back to their homes.
"I chaired the meeting this morning and was again joined by the Justice Secretary, Lord Advocate and senior officials to assess how the country is responding to yesterday's incident and its consequences.
"We remain in close and regular contact with colleagues in the UK government. There was a further meeting of COBRA at official level today and both administrations will keep the need for further Ministerial discussions under review.
"I will be visiting Glasgow Airport today to see for myself how staff are working to get the airport back up and running. The Justice Secretary is in Glasgow to personally thank key frontline staff on behalf of the Scottish government. And we will both be meeting with leaders from Scotland's Asian community at the central mosque in Glasgow this afternoon. If the perpetrators of this evil act sought to divide our communities, there is a shared determination to ensure they fail.
"There is clearly a wide-ranging and intensive police investigation underway into yesterday's incident. For obvious reasons, we do not intend to go into any details of that investigation.
"What I can say is that the police are totally focussed on their role in protecting the public, and I want to pay tribute to their dedication and professionalism.
"There has never been any complacency within the police service in Scotland about the potential threat from global terrorism. Terrorism knows no boundaries. It respects no boundaries. That is why we are united - governments, law enforcement bodies, and the public - in our shared determination to defeat them.
"The Scottish public have also played a vital role so far in helping to minimise the impact of this incident.
"We are determined to do all we can to get their daily lives back to normality as quickly as possible. But we will need the country's continuing assistance and patience in getting services back on track.
"As part of that we have convened a meeting of the multi-agency Scottish Emergencies Co-ordinating Committee to make sure that key interests across the public sector are part of this national effort.
"We are advised that flights in and out of Glasgow Airport should resume later in the day. Other key transport hubs - air, rail, road, and ferry - are open.
"With every passing hour, the country is getting back to business. That is a message of hope and resilience that must overcome the anxiety and fear that the terrorists seek to spread."