Police chief warns city faces serious risk of terror attack
MICHAEL BLACKLEY mblackley@edinburghnews.com
THE Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police today said Edinburgh faces a very serious threat of terrorist attack and warned that believing otherwise was "naïve and dangerous".
Paddy Tomkins said Scotland needs to be alert to the threat and that the Capital has to make counter-acting terrorism a new policing priority for the foreseeable future.
But he warned that any racist backlash in the Lothians as a result of the new terror alert will not be tolerated, and said police would make it a priority to send offenders to the courts.
His comments come after two mosques in the Lothians were targeted in racist attacks over the weekend.
A 37-year-old man was arrested and charged in the early hours of Saturday morning for allegedly hurling racist abuse at someone within a mosque in Livingston's Craigshill Road. And racist graffiti was also
found on the wall of the Shagalal Mosque on the city's Annandale Street Lane on Saturday morning.
Mr Tomkins, who has warned before that cities like Edinburgh face as much a risk of terrorist attack as the major cities in England, called on the community to help and assist police in tackling the threat.
The stark warning comes as airports slowly return to normal after a weekend of delays following the uncovering of the major terrorist plot to blow up US-bound flights from the UK last week.
The foiled plot has prompted the Government to look at controversial new screening methods for passengers, including giving security staff the power to stop people based on their ethnic or religious background. Mr Tomkins said: "Some may think that there is no Scottish context to this threat but I am convinced that such belief is naïve and perhaps dangerous. Those who would carry out such acts make no distinction between parts of the United Kingdom and seem unlikely to spare us on other idealised or romantic grounds.
"Furthermore the plot and its context within world events illustrates that this is a new policing priority for the foreseeable future. These alleged acts are criminal in their nature and are an assault on every community that makes up Scottish society.
"The perpetrators of terrorism have always justified the carnage in the terms of whatever ideology they follow. If this is now done in the guise of a perversion of religious belief it does not hide the fact that this is murder and the perpetrators are criminals.
"These issues are a major threat to our society and are on a scale that requires a co-ordinated response from us all. The police cannot do this alone but we can succeed if we maintain that active support and co-operation of our communities."
Mr Tomkins also revealed that fears of a racist backlash, where attacks happen on minority religious groups as a result of the terrorist threat, had proved correct with a number of incidents at places of worship in Lothian and Borders over the weekend.
He said that any racism will not be tolerated and offenders will be pursued and prosecuted through the courts.
Mr Tomkins also called on any victims of racist attacks to report the crime to police or file a remote report on the police website at www.lbp.police.uk/takecontrol
He added: "These are difficult times for us all but I would wish to reassure people of our determination to strongly fight the threat of terrorism, while defending the rights and freedoms of all the communities that make up our vibrant and diverse country.
"While we have no intelligence of a threat against Scotland a great deal of work is in hand both within the force and in partnership with other forces and local strategic partners to safeguard us all.
"Clearly many of the measures introduced are causing difficulty and frustration but I would ask that people remain focused on the nature of the threat and the need to protect human life. Working together in this way our society can defeat this peril and retain the quality of freedom we all cherish in Scotland."
Web links
Home Office - terrorism http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/
Last updated: 15-Aug-06 13:38 BST
