Early this morning people blockaded Brand Street Immigration Reporting Centre, Glasgow, completely shutting all entrances to Home Office staff and preventing any ‘Dawn Raids’ that would have left this morning.

Early this morning four people, supported by another twenty from the No Borders Network(1) blockaded Brand Street Immigration Reporting Centre, Glasgow(2), completely shutting all entrances to Home Office staff and preventing any ‘Dawn Raids’ that would have left this morning. The action is part of a coordinated action across the country, with over ten other similar facilities being targeted, aiming to cause as much disruption to the deportation system as possible, especially the practise of Dawn Raids.

The blockaders used two tripods over 15 feet high made from metal poles to shut the vehicular entrances and two locked their necks to pedestrian gates using bike locks.

One of those taking part in the blockade said “Dawn Raids are a brutal part of an inhumane system. These refugees should be welcomed to Scotland and not treated as criminals. If I needed to flee to another country for whatever reason I would hope that people would help me. I wouldn’t expect to be treated like this, and neither should they. The Home Office makes me ashamed to be British.”

Another added “We’re here to send a message to the government that regardless of what the right-wing media says there are a lot of people in the UK who support the right to freedom of movement and support refugees coming here, and until they start treating all people in this country as equals this sort of action will continue.”

Dawn raids have been the source of anger from communities in Glasgow , which see them as a barbaric and inhumane way of enforcing Home Office policy. This is not the first time that the Brand Street offices have been subject to direct action. There have been many protests and blockades of the buildings since 2005.

The frequency of Dawn Raids in Scotland has drastically reduced since the election of the SNP in May, but they still happen occasionally, and there has been no formal ending of this policy. The practise is still a central part in Home Office enforcement in England and in Wales , with several raids being launched every week in cities which asylum seekers are dispersed too. Once a family has been raided they face time inside immigration prisons or even deportation, sometimes to dangerous war torn countries such as Zimbabwe, Iraq, Somalia and DR Congo.

Related

http://www.noborders.org.uk