“We are civilised people. Go back to your police stations in peace”.
This was the plea of one local resident over a megaphone to dozens of police surrounding a van in Kenmure Street, Glasgow. The van contained two of his neighbours, picked up the morning of 13 May, the second day of the Muslim holy time of Eid al-Fitr.
At lightning speed, suggesting a very high degree of organisation on behalf of anti-eviction and tenants groups in the city, the van was surrounded by protestors who refused to allow it to leave. Within hours, several hundred local residents and supporters were swarming over Kenmure Street in the Pollokshields area, creating a stand-off with an escalating Police Scotland force, who rapidly assembled to deal with the protestors.
As chants of “these are our neighbours, let them go” echoed up and down the street, residents appeared at their windows and doors to join in. For several hours, officers stood in silence or instigated the sporadic shoving and jostling of peaceful protestors.
Scottish Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf today criticised “this UK Border Force Operation, in Polloksheilds, the heart of the Muslim community, on Eid” as “a demonstration of the UK Govt’s hostile environment.”
Source: Counterfire