HUNDREDS gathered in George Square to pay their tributes to the 49 people who were shot dead at a gay nightclub in Florida on Sunday.
Omar Mateen targeted Orlando's Pulse club before being killed by police.
(Photo: James Chapelard/SWNS)
More than 600 people attended the hour-long vigil, billed as "Glasgow Stands With Pulse Orlando".
Rainbow Pride flags - a symbol of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community - were planted in the square and cards and messages were laid beside flowers and candles. The flag has been flying over the Scottish government's headquarters and Glasgow City Chambers.
The names of the victims gunned down at the gay nightclub were read aloud during the hour long vigil.
There were a few whispers as two on-duty police officers stood amongst the gathering, but that turned to applause as they showed their solidarity by becoming one of many who laid candles beneath the Walter Scott monument in the square.
(Photo: James Chapelard/SWNS)
Inspector Iain Arnott of Greater Glasgow Police Division who joined colleague Pc Ross Jackson in paying tribute said: "We have a very large LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community and we have a long history of engagement with that community and it is very important to show how much we support as a police service that community and stand beside them in condemning such a horrendous, horrendous attack.
"Our department has responsibility for equality, diversity and community engagement and under that banner it includes hate crime.
"It is monitoring hate crime and trying to increase the reporting of hate crime. It is an abhorrent crime and at its worst we see what has happened at Orlando and it is something we don't tolerate in Scotland at all. We have very robust procedures for dealing with hate crime.
"I would urge that if people have suffered hate crime, or knows someone who has suffered hate crime, please report it to the police or to report it through our website or to report it to a third party reporting centre."
Also showing solidarity with the many in the LGBT community who laid candles and laid messages of support for the Orlando victims, were Frank McAveety, the leader of Glasgow City Council, Lord Provost of Glasgow Sadie Docherty and Glasgow region MSP Anas Sarwar .
Ms Docherty told the crowd: "The people in that nightclub suffered because of their sexuality and I would just say to everyone here, thank you for coming along tonight, I know for many of you it will be a very difficult time but Glasgow is certainly thinking of all of you tonight, in particular the people who were in the nightclub in Orlando and their extended family.
"Because with the number of people that were killed and their extended family, you are talking about an awful lot of people hurting across the world tonight.
"My prayers and the prayers and the hopes of the city are with the people of Orlando."
Nicole Hailstones, a student who was one of the first to lay her tribute said: "Let's make George Square a place ofnot only mourning but celebration and pride. We can't ever stop being who we are and who we are is big, beautiful, loud and proud! And really f***ing angry."
Earlier Organisers of Glasgow Stands With Pulse Orlando said: "This attack is a reflection of the violence LGBTQ people face daily, not just in the US but across the world, and this violence feels personal for many of us.
(Photo: James Chapelard/SWNS)
"This was a hate crime against our community, and an extension of the messages that we hear daily that we should not be visible, we should not be out, we should not exist."
The statement ended: "The inclusive support of our whole community, and of the wider Glasgow community, is vital as we mourn the loss of so many lives, and continue to fight the bigotry that allows such attacks to happen in the first place."
Messages left in the square included "our love is stronger than the hate" and "no homophobia, no transphobia, no islamiphobia".
Organiser Ciara McGuire said: "We're from Free Pride which is an LGBT community group in Glasgow and we just felt we needed a place where people could come and be around friends and get support from people and show solidarity with the people in Orlando as well.
"It felt really important to be around other LGBTQ people and have that support. Although it's an awful thing that happened, it's good that we have this strong community and we can express that grief with other people."
On seeing the size of the crowd, the 23-year-old said: "It's really overwhelming, I only just realised how many people have shown up which is really nice. Obviously it's resonated with a lot of people."
Joanna Branch, a student from South Carolina, read aloud the names of the 49 who died at the Glasgow vigil.
She said: "We're here to mourn the loss of lives at a nightclub where people thought they were safe to be who they wanted to be.
"We mourn for the people who lost their lives, their friends and family and those injured."
Rev Kelvin Holdsworth: "It's a feeling that something has to be done, even if it's just standing beside one another. We need to change the homophobia that's still present in society. Scotland's a great place to be gay but there's still a lot to do all across the world."
A similar vigil has also been organised in Edinburgh on Wednesday.
In London thousands of people including Scots Tory leader Ruth Davidson and Scottish Labour Party leader Kezia Dugdale, gathered to to "stand together against bigotry and homophobia" in Soho, the city’s historic gay district.
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