Over 100 people slept ‘rough’ on the streets of Glasgow in protest at the Westminster government’s brutal policy of forcing people into hunger and destitution in an attempt to force them to return to unsafe countries. This protest is Positive Action in housing’s contribution to the Still Human Still Here campaign to end destitution of refused asylum seekers, and ultimately bring change to legislation. Here, Robina qureshi, gives her recollection of the night.
When we first arrived at George Square to set up, i have to admit i got a bit nervous, thinking what’s the night ahead gonna be like, is it gonna be safe? But it was okay the more people began to arrive. Safety in numbers and to be honest there was no real trouble and the best defence was knowing how to handle people that got a bit verbally aggressive or troublesome. The stewards jackets provided by Unity and Raemond Bradford were a life saver and any potential tropuble soon backed off. So if your organising a sleepout in your city, remember stewards jackets are almost like police mens uniforms!!
Some of Glasgow’s indigenous scots and destitute asylum seekers also slept out with the protesters. This was actually great because there was a lot of conversation and sharing of experiences. One homeless scot, James, told me “there’s no houses for the people already here and its cos of ‘youse’ bein’ in our country”. “Naw”, i told him right back “if ‘youse’ sent ‘us’ back, you’d still be homeless – so don’t blame ‘us’ – blame the government”. J ames nodded aye and then we broke bread – i mean, sandwiches. Jamie O’Neill spotted destitute asylum-seeker Ibrahim from Kurdistan who sat a distance away from our base at first. Ibrahim had nowhere to stay that night and asked if he could spend the night with us. Towards the end of the night he ended up wearing a steward’s jacket and bewing at the heart of things. Jelina Rahman made marshmallows to sell as a contribution to the hardship fund and raised over £70 in addition to her sponsorship money. There was a good mix of asylum seekers, homeless sacots, campiagners, ordinary members of the public, faith leaders, politicians, journalists, actors, writers and musicians, nuns, tree huggers and even a fransiscan friar from Hawaii! Charity chief exec cath morrison came through from stirling to represent the Lilias Graham Trust which helps porr families requiring respite. SNP MSPs Bashir Ahmad, Sandra White, Bob Doris and willie Coffie also turned out to support the campaign and that was well appreciated.It was great cos there was so many people who were there cos they cared about the issue, many of whom didn’t know each other, and many of whom i had only ever ‘know’ via email.
The atmosphere was further buoyed by First Minister Alex Salmond’s statement in the Scottish Parliament earlier in the day that he wanted an end to dawn raids in Scotland. The previous Executive unfortunately paid lip service to the whole barbaric policy of dawn raids on asylum families and their children who live in permanent fear of being dragged from their homes, schools and community by heavy-handed snatch squads. Nothing changed and the Home Office or Borders immigration Authority as its now called is doubling the number of removals and carrying on regardless removing families on a ‘case by case’ basis without accountability or transparency. So we thank the First Minister for standing up for Scotland and the most vulnerable in our society.
When the speeches first began, the rain began dripping and then it started bucketing down – worst fear, was this going to go on all night?? So we all retreated to the marquee, people could barely be heard, we were all crammed in but it was a great atmosphere. As the speeches wore on, the rain subsided, the kettle was put on, and we shared drink and food, some of which was donated by the manager of a sandwich place with a french sounding name on condition that “you can’t say you got it from us!” Harvey brought a ton of food to share as well and some amazing fruit, including pink grapefruit and melon – thanks harvey!
Initially some of us were wondering whether we should really be sheltering from the rain when its a ’sleepout’ , but the action was symbolic and not lost on a single one of us. We all in our own way experienced a tiny, tiny bit of what it is to have no choice but to sleep on the streets. We are there in solidarity that was for sure and we all learnt a bit more about what refused asylum seekers are going through, being forced into homelessness in an attempt to drive them out of the UK back to unsafe countries. The rest of the evening was filled with talking about each others involvement with the whole asylum issue, talking to asylum seekers who were there and campaigners who are working at the sharp end in lobbying MP’s and MSP’s and helping with legal cases.
Our chair, iain whyte was on top form and chatted the night away with his old pal Bob Holman. Tom Sheilds the Herald columnist turned out too. i like Tom, he’s dead supportive has great ideas, but i never know waht to say to him. A man of few words but it was great he turned up . The glasgow Girls turned up too and stayed the night. Aneela turned up too with her other half Andy, who i didn’t recognise atall cos of his cool hairstyle, he kept smiling at me but i was clueless, i told him jokingly he looked like a male model who was on big brother but had the second person to be evicted he took it well! Things settled down eventually with some people sleeping under the stars of george square and others in the tent. Others still sat on benches and around monuments listening to music. I went back to my place for a bit to pick up a toaster and some bread, butter and marmalade. I came back and Mannie from Kingsway and tim, who used to work for the CAB joined in making tea and hot toast for everyone as sunrise came at 4.31 am. A few words of thanks were said by Iain and we all went our separate ways.
Brodie, who i met for the first itme earlier in the evening, has given his account of the night, on his blog – so feel free to read it.
Jamie ll post some pictures soon, in the meantime im off to bed.
Please feel free to recount your experience of last night by adding your comment. we’d love to know.
