Crowds gather outside Govan immigration centre
DRAMATIC scenes broke out at the Home Office in Glasgow yesterday after crowds swarmed the entrance.
Activists rushed to the immigration centre sparking a major police response.
Groups filled Govan’s Brand Street following reports on social media that claimed a person was being detained inside the building.
However, there was no confirmation from any official sources on whether this was true.
Fears were sparked as migrants are to start being detained by the Home Office after the Rwanda Act was passed last week.
Protesters were seen shouting at officers demanding they open up all vehicles exiting the building.
Officers were seen pushing back crowds who refused to move from the gates claiming it was for safety reasons.
Suzy Boyd, who volunteers with asylum seekers and refugees teaching them in English, attended the demonstration.
The 68- year- old was chosen by the crowd to check all vehicles for migrants as they left the building while police pushed back crowds.
She did not report finding anyone other than Home Office staff in the cars and vans which left the premises.
Suzy said: “Asylum seekers are already very distressed and depressed because of the situation they are in. They are pulled away from their families. They have a dreadful, frightening journey and then they come to this. They are absolutely petrified and don’t know what to do and who to turn to.
“It seems the people who should be protecting us are not willing to do that. It’s shocking.
“I want to be another nationality. I don’t want to be British. I am ashamed to be saying I am British. It is horrible what they are doing. They don’t care about the suffering they are causing.”
Hannah Taylor, 23, who lives in Dennistoun said: “We got the call that a woman was being detained with her kids so we came down to stop that from happening.
“I think she had already been transported which is tragic so we need to be more on it with our vigilance. People will keep coming back out to stop deportation. Crowds will keep showing up like this in Glasgow, know I will.”
Another activists who was at the scene told our reporter: “We don’t have all the information. We only know what we know.
“The word is someone is being detained inside and it has coincided with recent policy to allow the government to send people to Rwanda. So we are trying to learn from Kenmure Street here and stop our friends and neighbours from being deported.
“We are concerned about local people. If you want to come and try and save our local Glaswegian, just like ourselves come down.
“We will stay as long as it takes.” In 2021, crowds gathered in Pollokshields’ Kenmure Street after two Sikh men were detained by the Home Office for alleged immigration violations.
Green Councillor Anthony Carroll said: “Today I am here as we have had another call in terms of the hostile environment the Home Office has been part of.
“This feeling exists of a very tense atmosphere. Today someone is being forcibly removed from their home. This tears communities apart. This is the aim of the Home Office.
“They in a very adverse way wish to seek to stop people seeking asylum.
“We are all here to make that stand today to show that communities stand with their neighbours.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We are aware of a protest on Brand Street, Glasgow.
“A proportionate policing response is in place and we will ensure people’s rights to peaceful assembly and protest are met.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The first illegal migrants set to be removed to Rwanda have now been detained by highly trained operational teams, following a series of nationwide operations this week.
“We will get flights off the ground to Rwanda in the next nine to eleven weeks, creating the deterrent effect to help break up the people smuggling business model and stop the boats.”