A shopping centre outside Glasgow was the scene for a training exercise to test the response of the emergency services to a major firearms attack - leaving the public confused. 

Glasgow Times:

The multi-agency action - held throughout Tuesday evening at Intu Braehead - had been planned since early last year, Police Scotland said.

Glasgow Times:

The exercise was not in response to any recent incident or specific threat, said assistant chief constable Bernard Higgins.

Glasgow Times:

He said: "The emergency services and partners plan extensively for a wide number of challenging situations from naturally occurring events caused by the weather to significant industrial accidents or criminal acts.

"This exercise has been in the planning for a year and specifically focuses on a major firearms incident and will test how our specially-trained armed officers respond alongside other emergency services at a crowded place, which for the purposes of this scenario, is a major shopping venue.

"I must reiterate that this exercise is not in response to recent events in Paris or any threat to any specific location."

Glasgow Times:

He said training exercises allowed authorities to ensure the response to a genuine incident was current and ran as "efficiently and effectively as possible".

"Whilst everyone in Scotland hopes we never have to activate any major incident plan, it is important that we are ready to do so should the need develop. This proactive approach to preparedness helps to protect Scotland's status as a safe and secure country," he added.

Glasgow Times:

Gary Turnbull, general manager for the shopping centre, said: "The emergency services do an extremely important job keeping the public safe.

"This training, planning and preparation to deal with all eventualities is essential and we had no hesitation allowing them to use our facilities for their exercise while the centre was closed."

Glasgow Times:

Most people only became aware of what what going on after police shared this message on their social media:

Locals, however, took to Twitter to express their frustrations and concerns about what was going on at the site - with some claiming they were being kept awake.

Glasgow Times:

 

 

Glasgow Times:

One Twitter user asked the police and shopping centre if Scotland could be under attack soon after recent events in Paris. 

Police and Intu Braehead responded:

And some Twitter users, however, were quick to make jokes at the expense of the police: