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Campaigners against the use of dawn raids to remove failed asylum seekers have held a protest outside the first minister’s official residence.
It coincided with the weekly cabinet meeting in Bute House, Edinburgh.

On Tuesday, three members of a Congolese family who had been removed from their Glasgow home were released.

The Scottish Executive has said it will urge the Home Office to take a sensible and pragmatic approach to failed asylum seeker cases involving children.

About 20 people including church ministers, schoolchildren and charities took part in the silent protest.

As well as condemning the use of dawn raids, the protesters want an amnesty for the 1,100 families who have been seeking asylum in Scotland since 2001.

The group were invited inside the building to speak with the Deputy Minister for Communities Des McNulty.

The current asylum policy doesn’t help asylum seekers or Scotland
Robina Qureshi
Positive Action in Housing

Robina Qureshi, director of the anti-racism charity Positive Action in Housing (PAIH), said: “The current asylum policy doesn’t help asylum seekers or Scotland.”

“We have people here who are willing to stay, work and settle, yet they are being driven out by a xenophobic asylum policy that doesn’t suit the economic or population needs of Scotland.”

The Waku family from Congo, who have lived in Scotland for six years, were removed from their Glasgow home last Monday after the Home Office refused their asylum application.

They were taken to a holding centre in Scotland, before being taken to Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centre near Gatwick.

Mother Onoya Waku and her three children Jean-Marc, 14, Grace, 12, and Genuine, four, are now back at their home in Cardonald.

Release secured

Their father Max, 44, remains at the Gatwick centre.

Solicitor Fraser Latta, who is representing the family, said he was hopeful Mr Waku’s release would be secured at a hearing on Thursday.

A petition raised by Lourdes secondary school in Glasgow, where Grace is a pupil, gathered 500 letters of support and 1,500 signatures for the family.

The Home Office spokesman said: “We always endeavour to keep families together, but there are occasions when this is not possible.

He added: “Families who have had their asylum applications rejected and continue to remain in the UK are doing so illegally.”

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6502183.stm

Published: 2007/03/28 12:33:07 GMT

As race hate crimes soar to a new high, the Scottish Executive deny their strategy is failing, saying its down to more people reporting attacks and abuse. But campaigners firmly believe racism is getting worse in Scotland and claim as many as eighty percent of incidents still go unreported.

CCTV footage was released a few weeks ago when the authorities launched another campaign against racism. The true extent of the problem is difficult to determine.

Official figures released today appeared to show it is getting worse. This is the first time statistics on racist incidents have been brought together from all of the eight Scottish police forces - and they make grim reading. There were over 5000 racist incidents last eyar - 13% more than the previous year and there were over 65000 racist crimes - an increase of 12%.

Ministers say it is a complicated picture. Justice minister Cathy Jamieson said: “We can’t assume that just because the figures are up in terms of people being brought to justice that that shows an increase in the problem. It may well show is that people are less tolerant of that kind of behaviour and more willing to report it.”

But some campaigners believe racism is on the increase - fuelled by a post 9/11 backlash and fermented by the far right.

Robina Qureshi from Positive Action on Housing said: “From our experience and from research carried out by Strathclyde Police, 80 percent of incidents aren’t reported.”

Osama Saeed from the Muslim Association of Britain said: “The BNP and far right racists have moved from racism to Islamophobia.”

Since 2002 the Executive has been funding the One Scotland campaign. Some community leaders praise it - others are not so sure. Bashir Maan from the Muslim Council of Britain said: “If it was working the figures would be going down, but going up.”

Most of the crimes were committed by young white men in their 20s. While the authorites know who is causing the problem, they do not know how to solve it.

STV NEWS
http://www.stv.tv/content/news/main/display.html?id=opencms:/news/Executive_promises_crackdown_on_racism

Campaigners opposed to the use of dawn raids to remove failed asylum seekers are staging a silent protest outside the First Minister’s official residence.

Church ministers, schoolchildren, and charities have gathered outside Bute House in Edinburgh.

The protest is designed to coincide with the Scottish Executive’s weekly cabinet meeting, which is being chaired by Jack McConnell.

STV.CO.UK