The ‘Glasgow Girls’ describe themselves as “a group of seven young campaigners who fight against the insensitive treatment of ‘failed’ asylum seekers”. They got started when their friend “Agnesa and her family were taken away from their home in a dawn raid [..] kept in a stark prison-like place for 3 weeks before the Home Office realised they had actually made a mistake and released them. Agnesa and her brothers will never forget the trauma they went through; seeing their dad being handcuffed by men in bullet proof vests, watching their mother cry and being followed to the toilet for safety reasons.”

A serial of short TV documentaries can be watched online on their website http://glasgowgirls.bebo.com. It’s well worth a few minutes watching the videos. In part 8 of the serial, the latest video, we see how the authorities renaged on a ‘protocol’ developed after the group took their case to the Scottish Parliament. So dawn raids on behalf of the Immigration Service have continued (that’s goverments for you, devolved or otherwise) but it is very inspiring to see how the community managed to stop one of these by turning up and forcing the police to abandon the raid (which had also involved them grabbing children, without adults). The fight must continue!!

For more info about Scottish anti-deportation campaiging, including UNITY, you can also visit the No Borders Network Glasgow website: http://www.openborders.org.uk/