Muslim anger over Glasgow attack

Mr Saeed said the terrorists had intended mass slaughter

A prominent Scottish Muslim has denounced the terror attack on Glasgow airport.

Osama Saeed, Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, said there was no history of Islamic extremism in Scotland.

Mr Saeed described how he had been at the airport with his young children just hours before Saturday's attack.

There have been isolated reports of racist graffiti targeting Muslims in the wake of the airport attack.

Mr Saeed said Muslims were as likely to be the victims of terror, as anyone else.

Fortunately I have not heard of any physical harm to anybody but certainly graffiti has been noticed on certain walls Na'eem Raza Islamic Society of Britain

He added: "My immediate response is one of anger. Thank God no lives were lost, but this kind of attack is aiming for indiscriminate slaughter.

"I was at the airport with my two young children picking up relatives only a few hours earlier.

"These terrorists do not care who they kill. We are seething with anger about this. As a community not only are we just as likely to be victims as anyone else, but we are also looked to in order to provide direction and in some respects take responsibility for this."

Mr Saeed said Muslims were "sick of being defined as a community by terrorism and having to answer for it," and said the attacks had a detrimental impact on Muslims everywhere.

He added: "There has not been a peep of extremism in Scotland to date. You hear about individuals and groups in London and elsewhere in England, but there has been no presence of this here.

"There are two things that the Muslim community can continue to do. Make it clear that there is no theological justification for these acts, which we have done repeatedly and loudly.

"Secondly, to report any suspicious activity, which again there has been no complacency about. We urge full support for our security services, and also pay tribute to the work of the emergency services."

'Requests for calm'

Meanwhile, Na'eem Raza, president of the Glasgow branch of the Islamic Society of Britain, said there had some evidence of a backlash against the Muslim and Asian community since the attack.

He said: "Certain buildings have been written on, Muslims go home or Pakis go home, this kind of literature has been used.

"Fortunately I have not heard of any physical harm to anybody but certainly graffiti has been noticed on certain walls."

The president of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, Chief Constable Colin McKerracher, said there had been no increase in verbal or physical attacks on Scotland's minority communities since the weekend.

He added: "Across Scotland the picture is that there are one or two reports of that sort of behaviour and that has been dealt with robustly.

"The level of that type of event is no greater than it is in a normal situation so we are really pleased that the communities of Scotland have responded to those requests for calm and for tolerance."