In the last two weeks four asylum families have been the victims of Sunday morning dawn raids by the Home Office snatch squads who go into family's homes without notice at dawn and remove whole families for deportation.

In Glasgow, over 1000 asylum families live in fear of a dawn raid. Children as young as 8 years old are regularly known to stay up from 6am onwards daily in fear of snatch squads visiting their homes. In recent weeks, Scottish tenants have organised daily dawn patrols in communities like Glasgow's Kingsway and Sighthill to
Protect their neighbours through peaceful protests.

Church ministers, charity workers and council tenants who live alongside Glasgow's asylum seeker families are amongst the protesters. Rev Dr Iain Whyte, a senior Church of Scotland minister and Rev. David McLachlan are amongst the protesters.

Rev Dr Whyte, a well known anti apartheid activist, said:

"As members of a civilised society, we cannot stand by and allow these inhumane policies to take hold in Scotland."

Robina Qureshi, Director, Positive Action in Housing, said:

"Three or four dawn raids are now happening every week. It frightens the parents, the children, the neighbours, schoolteachers, everyone. As a result of that policy many families are now going underground with their kids and become invisible from the statutory service and vulnerable to exploitation of every kind.

"Scotland has the fastest declining population in western Europe, with 25,000 Scots leaving each year. No use going to Canada or Australia to bring them back. The people that are willing to stay and contribute are asylum seekers. . We can't stand by and allow that lifeblood to be sent back because of a barbaric policy emanating from Westminster.

"Many of the 1000 asylum seeker families who could be victims of a dawn raid are long term residents of our communities. The executive and the home office keep making noises about making dawn raids humane and less likely. But nothing has changed in the last fifteen months"

NOTE TO EDITORS:

1. Last week, Linda Keilly, (see  http://paihnews.wordpress.com/2006/11/30/scottish-citizens-step-into -protect-their-refugee-neighbours-from-dawn-raids-30-november-2006/ ) a 45 year old council tenant from Yoker, Glasgow was charged with obstructing the course of justice. Her crime was to shelter her neighbour Mary and terrified 3 year old twins when an immigration snatch squad of 10 officials wearing stab vests broke Mary's door down with a battering ram at 7am on Sunday 26th November. Linda said unrepentant: "Not on my front door. These are my neighbours. They were breaking into my neighbour's house. Her only crime is that she is a refugee."

2. The Brand Street immigration office is where asylum seekers go to report weekly with their children and where dawn raid victims are taken to be finger printed, photographed before being transferred to removal centres such as Yarl's Wood and Dungavel. Dawn raid vans leave the brand street office when carrying out dawn raids.

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