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The crumbling red sandstone tenements and former shipyards seemed a world away from the massacres and political bloodshed which ravaged the villages of Algeria.

Abdul - not his real name - and his family arrived in Glasgow six years ago full of expectations. They hoped to find peace, forge a new life and escape decades of violence in their homeland.

But last year in an ironic twist of fate, the 17-year-old ended up seriously injured after an unprovoked and apparently racist attack.

Abdul was set upon by a gang of up to 15 hooded white youths and suffered a punctured lung after being stabbed.

While most teenagers his age are more interested in football and music, Abdul now worries about the political and social climate which fosters such outbreaks of apparently organised racist gang violence.

He said: “When we came here, there were some problems at first but things seemed to get a lot better.

“Now I definitely think it has got worse. There seems to be more attacks and a greater amount of general abuse.

“I was attacked in November last year by a gang of about 10 to 15 young people. I definitely think it was an organised attack.

“The gang knew exactly where and when the bus for the asylum seeker and refugee kids would be. I think they had planned it in advance.

“There was no reason for it at all. I was just looking to get my bus when it all started.”

Abdul and his family settled in the city’s Scotstoun area, a densely populated area dominated by red sandstone 19th and early 20th century tenements.

He was left hospitalised with a punctured lung after being stabbed in his back. The family of the second boy, who was understood to be Somali, have asked for him not to be identified for fear of reprisals.

Their attack took place at Drumchapel High School, which ironically, has an admirable record for welcoming refugees and asylum seekers.

Indeed, he and his friend were members of a “buddy” scheme designed to bring together asylum seekers and Scottish pupils.

The school is at the centre of a massive housing estate which is the focus of a determined regeneration effort in an area traditionally bedevilled with poorly constructed post-war housing and anti-social behaviour.

Bulldozers and construction workers are now a common site on the area’s streets with a substantial influx of public and private investment.

Some commentators at the time of the attack expressed surprise that it happened in a place which appeared to be on the rise.

Robina Qureshi, director of Positive Action in Housing, an asylum seeker support group, said: “The families feel the whole incident was racially motivated, as do the two young boys.”

Ms Qureshi was surprised that the incident had occurred at the school. She added: “Drumchapel High School has had a good record of trying to bring pupils together from whichever background they are from.”

It makes me pretty sad to think that I have been picked on for no real reason
Abdul

Racism may not be a new phenomenon in Scotland but in recent times, fears have deepened of a more sinister wave of attacks.

Abdul was concerned that violence was becoming less random and more co-ordinated. He said: “They were wearing scarves and things over their face to stop them being identified.

“It happened so quick that I can’t remember if they were being abusive but I definitely think it was because I was a refugee.

“It makes me pretty sad to think that I have been picked on for no real reason. I have been here for almost six years and this was just totally unfair.

“It is very worrying that people think they can attack refugee and asylum seekers just because of who they are and where they are from.”

The attack on Abdul was just one in a long line of suspected racially-motivated incidents.

In one of the biggest racist murder trials Scotland has witnessed, three Asian men were jailed for life for the race-hate murder of a schoolboy Kriss Donald.

Imran Shahid, 29, was ordered to spend at least 25 years in jail. His brother Zeeshan Shahid, 28, must serve 23 years, while Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq, 27, will spend 22 years behind bars for the abduction, assault and killing in 2004.

In August, three men were jailed for 13 years for a racist attack on an Asian man in Edinburgh that left him permanently disfigured.

One of the most notorious cases involving asylum seekers and refugees occurred in 2001 when Firsat Dag, 22, a Kurdish asylum seeker, was murdered in Glasgow.

A Scottish Executive survey also recently revealed that 42% of Scots claim to have been “exposed” to racism, either as victim, witness or perpetrator - 7% higher than in 2001.

Abdul said that he had never experienced blatant racism - until the attack. His family, including his parents, three brothers and two sisters, had originally fled Algeria, a nation battered by violence over the past half-century, in 2001.

More than a million Algerians were killed in the fight for independence from France in 1962. The country has only recently emerged from a brutal internal conflict which erupted after the elections in 1992.

The fighting escalated into a full scale insurgency, which saw intense fighting between 1992 and 1998 and which reportedly resulted in more than 100,000 deaths, many attributed to indiscriminate massacres of villagers by extremists.

He said: “We were so glad to make a new life here. I just hope we can be allowed to live in peace.”

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/scotland/6295119.stm

Published: 2007/03/04 19:25:18 GMT

Clad in the youth uniform of shellsuits, baseball caps and trainers, the teenagers swig from half empty MD 20/20 bottles.

The scene in the shadow of a decaying tower block is played out in towns and cities across the UK by bored youngsters hanging around on street corners.

But this is Scotland’s largest city and these youths are part of a worrying new trend - self-styled street gangs which increasingly target asylum seekers and refugees.

Some of those now terrorising housing schemes in Glasgow have allegedly formed tentative links with Nazi groups and display a fevered determination to attack refugees and asylum seekers.

Glasgow’s gangs are nothing new. They have a long and violent history dating back to fearsome battles fought over long-forgotten streets during the 18th century.

As the city positions itself as a post-industrial success story, many would rather forget the city’s notorious street gangs and their appetite for Clockwork Orange-style “recreational violence”.

But this new breed of (predominantly) teenage thugs has been quick to capitalise on the sinister opportunities offered by the internet.

Gang websites and online forums proliferate with links to extremist groups such as Combat 18 and loyalist paramilitaries. Notorious gangs such as the Toryglen Nazi Circus, the Young Toryglen Toi and the Bowery Wee Mob have websites daubed with Nazi insignia and links to far-right discussion forums.

In the south side of Glasgow, one gang member, who asked not to be named, said: “Why shouldn’t we give them a hard time?

“They (asylum seekers) are dropped in here from all over the place and end up with the best houses in the scheme.

“We just give them grief and it can get a bit mental.”

Groups, such as the BNP, have already used recent flashpoints such as the Kriss Donald murder trial to fuel racial hatred.

The case, one of Scotland’s most high profile racially motivated murders, became a cause celebre for gang members who use message boards to discuss attacks on asylum seekers and refugees.

Several gang web pages, complete with pictures of gang members in various states of intoxication, are linked to another series of websites billing themselves as a forum for “national socialists worldwide”.

An entry from Glasgow used a number of racial epithets and issued an ominous warning about the Kriss Donald murder.

It said: “It’s a disgrace. Imagine if it was an ethnic child who was snatched off the street, tortured and killed.

“Gone but never forgotten, wee man, justice is coming.”

Gang signs

Some of these gangs have a fearsome reputation for violence and are quick to defend their territory against “outsiders”.

It would appear for many of them, that asylum seekers and refugees have formed an easily identifiable target.

One area in Glasgow has more than 300 asylum seeker and refugee families.

While some members of the community have welcomed asylum seekers with open arms, gangs of youths have also tried to make their lives a misery.

The area is dotted with aging multi-storey flats and run-down shop fronts. Most of them are emblazoned with gang signs and racially offensive graffiti.

As a group, asylum seekers and refugees are easily ‘othered’
Dr Susan Batchelor
University of Glasgow

One local community activist said: “There were some real problems and at one time we thought the asylum seekers would have to get bussed in and out.

“It’s a youth problem. These kids have nothing to do and they are fiercely territorial. Drink is often involved too.

“Then when you add a group of asylum seekers or refugees who in some cases look different or have a different cultural background, these gangs can react.

“You do get swastikas daubed on shop fronts and that type of thing and it is totally unacceptable.

“Whether that is part of youthful bravado and an attempt to look tough or of something more sinister remains to be seen. It is very worrying.”

Fears of a growing politicisation of gangs and the specific targeting of ethnic minorities comes at a time when there is already a massive exodus among asylum seekers.

Nearly all of Scotland’s asylum seekers are based in Glasgow, but research has shown two-thirds leave the city once the Home Office has approved their claims.

A Scottish Executive study labelled the levels of racial harassment “shocking”.

Dr Susan Batchelor, a leading criminologist at the University of Glasgow, said asylum seekers and refugees were an easy target for young gang members.

She said: “These gangs are very territorial. Some of them are quick to chase out anyone who enters their patch and asylum seekers would fall into that category.

“As a group, asylum seekers and refugees are easily ‘othered’. They perhaps speak a different language or have a different culture and it is very easy for them to be singled out.

“I have met some of the people involved in gangs and they were very insular. I interviewed young people from Possil in the north of the city and yet they had still never been into the city centre.

“Gangs are about belonging, and race and ethnicity are a very quick way to differentiate people.”

‘No evidence’

However, Strathclyde Chief Constable Willie Rae said he did not believe there was a significant problem of gangs making links with right-wing and Neo-Nazi organisations.

“I am aware that there’s a message circulating about extreme groups publishing articles on the websites, which suggests they may well be targeting asylum seekers,” he said.

“But we don’t have the evidence at the moment at this time.

“I think we’ve got to be cautious given that we’re approaching elections where there will be individuals who will try to raise these matters for their own ends.”

Extra officers

Last year, a crackdown on youth gangs in Glasgow was stepped up. About 90 extra police officers have been posted on the streets in “hot spot” areas as part of Operation Tag.

Plain clothes “spotters” are used to “identify and disrupt” gangs which cause the most trouble between 1800 BST and 2200 BST on Friday and Saturday.

Extra officers have already been posted from police offices at Govan, New Gorbals, Cathcart, Giffnock and Pollok.

However, for asylum seekers in particular, these gangs and their deep-seated territorialism means that, as yet, they have little chance of making a happy and productive new home in Scotland.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/scotland/6292747.stm

Published: 2007/03/05 17:50:36 GMT

AN ASYLUM seeker with a history of attempted suicide hung himself in his bathroom in Harmondsworth immigration centre as he battled against deportation.

Bereket Yohannes, 24, plaited his shoelaces to create a noose on the day he was sent a letter telling him he was to be held in the controversial removal centre until legal proceedings had finished.

And an inquest at the West London coroner’s court heard Eritrean national Yohannes had tried to hang himself a month before when being held in Dover.

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He was found by his room-mate, Hussein Alkan, hanging from the shower in his bathroom at room 104 in A-block.

In a police statement Turkish-speaking Mr Alkan said: “I went to my room because I was expecting a call.

“I went to go into the bathroom but it was locked. I knocked on the door but there was no answer - I knocked several times.

“When I got it open I could see Yohannes had hung himself with some blue rope.”

Staff from Dover immigration removal centre reported to police that they had found Mr Yohannes on the floor of his room covered in vomit after trying to hang himself from the bars on his window on December 12, 2005.

After finding Mr Yohannes on January 19 last year Mr Alkan, an Iranian national who has since been deported, then ran to alert the detention custody officer on their level, Gavin Valydon.

DCO Valydon told the inquest: “I followed him to A104. I went into the bathroom where Mr Yohannes was hanging.

“Another officer went to his right and I went to his left and tried to support his weight.

“With the help of other officers we unhooked the noose from the bar and assisted Mr Yohannes to the floor.

“There wasn’t much room in the bathroom so we lay him down in the room. The nose was made from plaited shoe laces. Another officer used a ligature knife to cut the noose from his neck.

“The only thing I noticed was how deep the noose had gone into his neck - there was a significant mark.”

The healthcare team then attempted to resuscitate Mr Yohannes, who was not breathing, and an ambulance was called.

A jury at West London coroner’s court heard Mr Yohannes fled Eritrea after deserting his term of service in the Army on religious grounds.

Under Eritrean law this meant he would be treated as a traitor and could be jailed for four years.

He fled to Italy but was told he would only be allowed to stay there for 12 months and would not receive any benefits. He was told he would have to find work even though this was impossible because of the language barrier.

Detective constable Adrian Back told the jury that Mr Yohannes had instructed solicitors to act on his behalf to prevent him from being deported back to Italy under the grounds the Italian immigration services did not cater for his basic human rights.

A letter had been sent to Mr Yohannes that day informing him that he would be kept inside the 490-capacity detention centre until his judicial review was over - though it wasn’t clear if he had received that letter.

DC Back said a message written on Mr Yohannes’s pillow was also found - which gave an insight into his disturbed state of mind.

“An important note was on a pillow received from his room,” said DC Back. “It was of interest because it had some writing on it.

“We sent it to an interpreter and they sent a transcription back to us.

“It said: My God, without your money I could not.’ “It was extremely difficult to read as it was in his native language and it was very faint.”

The death of Mr Yohannes in January last year sparked riots across the centre and a hunger strike among the detainees.

But the inquest heard detention custody officers had used the communication system to get help to Mr Yohannes as soon as he was found.

At the end of the three-day inquest the jury returned a verdict that Mr Yohannes had committed suicide.

http://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/newsroundup/display.php?artid=1256420&FROMPAPER=hillingdontimes.co.uk

The United Nations defines an asylum seeker or refugee as someone who is persecuted “for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion”.
Seven years ago, the first asylum seekers arrived in Scotland after fleeing their homelands.

But it seems they still have a long way to go before they can claim to have escaped persecution in this country.

A rising tide of youth disorder targeted at asylum seekers and their families takes place against a backdrop where 60% of the asylum seekers granted permission to stay in Glasgow by the Home Office subsequently leave the city, according to the Scottish Executive.

Despite the valiant efforts of community groups and volunteers, many refugees feel far from welcome, let alone assimilated into the wider society.

Racist incidents within the Strathclyde Police area have soared from 968 six years ago to more than 1,500 in 2006/7.

About 6,000 asylum seekers now call Glasgow home. Many, if not all of them, are housed in areas with extreme social problems.

Hundreds of people from Somalia, Algeria, Albania and Kosov have moved into decrepit tower blocks in places such as Sighthill, Castlemilk, and Scotstoun.

This has given a new and worrying perspective on Glasgow’s perennial gang problem which has blighted the city for decades.

In Sighthill, which once created shockwaves across the UK following the murder of Firsat Dag, a Kurdish asylum seeker, the racial tension appears to have eased.

But Glasgow is far from an idyllic haven for those seeking asylum. In 2002/03 there were two racist murders and five attempted murders, with one murder and one attempted murder in the previous year.

School visits

In 2000/02 the worst recorded racist offence was serious assault, while no racist murders or attempted murders were committed.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. In Pollok and Govan, asylum seekers and police are visiting local schools and giving talks about their personal experience to pupils and staff.

Drew Pryde is Strathclyde Police’s race relation officer in G Division, the force’s largest division covering a wide and diverse area.

Due to their reasons for being here, some asylum seekers are reluctant to contact the police to report any crime

Drew Pryde
Strathclyde Police’s race relation officer in G Division

He said the latest initiative is helping to break down barriers and dispel some of the myths surrounding asylum seekers and why they are in Scotland.

PC Pryde said: “It is true that asylum seekers are the victims of racist attacks. However, no more so than, say, the Asian community.

“Due to their reasons for being here, some asylum seekers are reluctant to contact the police to report any crime.

“Strathclyde Police recognises this and we have five asylum liaison officers working within G Division.

“We also work closely with the relevant support agencies and groups promoting our third party reporting scheme in order to try and get a true picture of any community tensions that there might be.”

The long term effects of discrimination and racism remain to be seen. We may have already witnessed the beginnings of a backlash.

Reports of violent Somali gangs running amok in parts of the city centre have emerged during the course of this investigation.

Some asylum seekers may have already begun to take the law into their own hands. Naim Rama, from Kosovo, reportedly suffered months of racial harassment from the Young Shaws Tongs in Pollokshaws.

On 2 December, 2002, he got into a lift with Alexander Malavin, one of the gang members. As the doors opened at the second floor, Rama pushed the 16-year-old out of the lift and stabbed him 11 times.

Malavin survived but suffered a collapsed lung and was in hospital for a week.

Rama was charged with attempted murder, but the jury at his trial found he had been heavily provoked by abuse from local gangs and convicted him of the lesser offence of serious assault.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6314057.stm