Police have been called to a demonstration at an immigration office in Glasgow.
About 30 protesters have been picketing the Brand Street office in the Cessnock area of the city.
The group, said the protest was over recent early morning raids and the detention of children.
A Strathclyde Police spokesman said there was an “ongoing incident” at the scene but would not give more details.
BBC NEWS 26/03/07
Categories: against dawn raids · asylum seekers · dawn raids
These girls fought to stop their friend being deported.. now she and her family are coming home
By Marion Scott
TWO campaigning schoolgirls were last night told their best friend who was detained in a dawn raid had won a last-minute reprieve to stay in Scotland.
Lauren Bedford and Cheryl Paterson, both 13, were stunned when they arrived at the home of pal Grace, also 13, to find she had been taken away in a van by police and immigration officers.
They organised an 885-pupil petition at Lourdes Secondary in Glasgow against the deportation of Grace and her family.
The Waku family were due to be sent back to their homeland in the Congo, formerly Zaire, tomorrow.
But on Friday lawyers won a landmark first step to gain a legal review of their case.
Last Monday, Max Waku and his family were woken and dragged away in handcuffs in a dawn raid in Cardonald, Glasgow.
They were bundled into caged vans and sent to Tinsley House deportation centre near Gatwick.
Speaking from the centre, 42-year-old Max said: “After so many days of tears, our hearts are now happy because we’re going home to our friends in Scotland.”
Max, who was a geologist in the Congo’s gold and diamond mines, said: “It was so very sad to be taken away from Scotland in handcuffs, like a common criminal.
“I was ashamed for my wife and children and our friends to see this.
“I kept telling the guards who took me that I was not a criminal.”
Last week Jack McConnell said it would be “inappropriate” for Education Minister Hugh Henry to intervene in the case.
Lauren and Cheryl are also friends of the Waku’s two sons - Jean Marc, 16, and Genuine, four, who was born in Scotland.
Lauren said: “We hope politicians will understand how upset we are to have our friends taken away.
“Grace and her family are a huge part of our lives and we can’t imagine being without them.”
Max’s wife Onoya was an immigration officer and the family lived a middle-class life in the country’s capital Kinshasa until a raid by government militia accusing them of helping political rebels.
Onoya and her children were kept under house arrest but escaped with only the clothes they wore. The family fled to Kenya, arriving in Scotland in March 2001.
Max said: “We were terrified when Scottish immigration people came to our home. They separated us, put us in vans and took us away.
“We were very frightened and our children have not stopped crying since it happened.
“We have been so very happy in Scotland. My wife and I were not allowed to work but we did voluntary work in the community and went to our church most days.”
The family’s lawyer Fraser Latta said: “We’ve won a major breakthrough and are confident that we will have the family freed on bail to return to Glasgow soon.
“The Waku family are delightful, dedicated professional people who have conformed to all the immigration laws of this country.”
Congolese asylum seekers have demonstrated in Glasgow about the dangers they would face if sent back to their country.
Yesterday peace returned to Kinshasa after dozens were killed in two days of intense street warfare between security forces and rebels.
Categories: Deportation · Detention · asylum seekers · dawn raids
