ANGRY GLASWEGIANS FORCE HOME OFFICE TO RELEASE PRISONERS

HUNDREDS of angry Glaswegians surrounded a Home Office van today in a bid stop British dawn raid evictions from happening in Scotland.

Locals in Kenmure Street, Glasgow, came out in their droves as news spread that a family were being hunted from a property in the street by British immigration enforcement officers.

By dinner time, hundreds of protestors had surrounded the Home Office van with the family inside.

More than 30 police officers were drafted in to form a human barrier around the van as locals refused to back down.

They were unable to move the van at one point because one protester has crawled underneath, and refused to move.

Chants of “These are our neighbours, let them go” and “shame on you” to officers came from the crowd.

A large police presence had both ends of the street locked down as locals, in some cases holding small children or with their dogs, created such a crowd that the van had nowhere to go.

Glasgow MP Alison Thewliss was among those to condemn the Home Office action.

She said on Twitter: "This is absolutely awful, but so heartened to see local residents in Pollokshields standing up for their neighbours and refusing to accept the brutality of the UK Home Office.

“I am taking this matter up with Ministers. Not in our name."

A Police Scotland spokesman said: "Around 9.55 am this morning, Thursday, May 13, 2021, police were called to support colleagues at the UK Border Agency at an address in Kenmure Street, Pollokshields, Glasgow.

The crowd only got larger as the day wore on and eventually police instructed the Home Office to release the prisoners in a bid to settle the situation. The family were led from the back of the van by Human Rights lawyer, Aamer Anwar, to the cheers of the crowds.

The family were taken to a local mosque but stopped and thanked crowds for their support.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was damning in her condemnation of the UK Government and its immigration policy.

Ms Sturgeon demanded that the UK Government “never again” create such a situation and said that the one Tory minister she managed to speak to showed absolutely “no empathy” for those involved.

Taking to Twitter to pan the “unacceptable” behaviour of Priti Patel’s Home Office, the SNP leader accused her immigration officers of putting Police Scotland in an “invidious position”.

Ms Sturgeon wrote: “Today’s events were entirely down to @ukhomeoffice actions. @policescotland were in an invidious position - they do not assist in the removal of asylum seekers but do have a duty to protect public safety. They act independently of ministers, but I support this decision.”

Updated statement on Kenmure Street, Glasgow

— Police Scotland (@policescotland) May 13, 2021

She was referring to Chief Superintendent Mark Sutherland’s decision to have the detained family released “in order to protect the safety, public health and wellbeing of all people involved in the detention and subsequent protest”.

In a twitter thread posted in response to that police statement, Ms Sturgeon went on: “I disagree fundamentally with @ukhomeoffice immigration policy but even putting that aside, this action was unacceptable.

“To act in this way, in the heart of a Muslim community as they celebrated Eid, and in an area experiencing a Covid outbreak was a health and safety risk.”

A Home Office source reportedly told the BBC's Lewis Goodall that it was "completely unacceptable for a mob to stop the lawful removal of people living in our country illegally".

They added: "We 100% back the frontline in removing those with no right to be here."

The Home Office recently ran a consultation on a planned change to its immigration policy.

However, this was run concurrently with the Scottish elections, meaning the Edinburgh Government was essentially gagged by strict pre-election rules.

The Welsh Government has asked for this consultation to be extended to allow them a voice, while their Scottish counterpart expressed “extreme disappointment” at the timing of the consultation.

The Scottish Government called for “meaningful engagement and collaboration … in relation to any reform of the UK asylum and immigration systems”.