The abortive detention of two undocumented Indian men in Glasgow on 13 May has got me thinking. I am not by any means by a conspiracist but there are certain aspects of the attempted raid from which one can only draw disturbing conclusions.
The timing of the Home Office raid, supported by police Scotland, alone is questionable. Usually such raids are carried out early in the morning, when few people are about, and to catch the suspects by surprise. The Glasgow raid took place late morning, with plenty of people about, which is precisely why the people of Pollokshields were able to respond so quickly and so effectively.
Kenmure Street, Pollokshields, falls in the political ward of Glasgow Southside, which just happens to be the constituency of the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon MSP. It also took place while Members of the Scottish Parliament were being sworn in to form the new session of the parliament, just days after the SNP gained the highest number of votes ever cast in a Scottish Parliamentary Election.
Then there is the absolute crassness of attempting to detain two Muslim men on the day chosen, 13 May 2021. The end of the Muslim festival of Ramadan, and the day of Eid Al-Fitr; the holiest day in the Muslim calendar. Detaining the two men in a police van prevented them from joining in prayer on Eid Al-Fitr, which effectively contravened their human rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
All in all, this appears to have been a deliberately-contrived show of force by the UK government agency Border Contol, to prove to those "troublesome Jocks" who is in charge, to humiliate the First Minister, and one which was potentially racist and anti-Islamic.
And it was one which backfired spectacularly, but should not have deserved to do so, for the simple fact it should never have been attempted in that way, on that day of all days. I am an atheist, but I am an atheist who has an enormous respect for the right to freedom of religion for others. And I realise that if I want freedom from religion, then I must equally stand up for freedom of religion. This was one of such instances where I have no choice but to take a stand for the rights of Muslims.
I am not for one moment suggesting that Priti Patel, the UK Home Secretary, and a woman of Hindu Indian-Ugandan immigrant background, deliberately chose the day of Eid Al-Fitr to carry out this raid, but I would say that if she knew it was going to happen on that day, then she should have known better, and should have advised the Border Force officers not to act on that day. If she did not know it was going to take place on Eid Al-Fitr, then that equally calls her competence to hold the post she does into question. At the least, Border Force should have been a great deal more sensitive to the significance or the day, and that they were not does indeed suggest some degree of prejudice.
I do not blame the people of Glasgow for being outraged. They should be, just as all living in Scotland should be. In fact, as a Scot I could not be more proud of the way they rallied around their neighbours, just as Glasgow has always done. It won't, but this was an incident which should go down in the history books of Glasgow as a city, and Scotland as a whole. In it's own way it was every bit as big as the Red Clyde incidents of the early 20th century, and the way a proud city stood up to the brute force of a bullying London government to protect and support their own.
I have nothing but praise for Police Scotland, who were used as a tool by a government which Scotland never voted for, and ordered, possibly against their wishes, to go into Kenmure Street in force. But that the officer in charge ordered the men released and the police to stand down in the interests of public safety was the sensible thing to do. And I have absolutely no doubt that did not go down well with the Border Force agents, or their Westminster bosses.
But most of all the events of Thursday, 13 May 2021, was a supreme example of the power of nonviolent mass protest. By just sitting in the street, and getting under the van holding the two men, the people of Glasgow took a stance against force which required no violence, and which gave the authorities no choice but to buckle.
If Westminster thought that this would bolster unionist feeling in Scotland, they were absolutely mistaken. Their bully-boy tactics had exactly the opposite effect, and openly displayed to Scotland, the UK, Europe, and the world, just how far a London government is willing to go, how Scotland will not put up with it, and underlined just one more reason why Scotland needs to be independent.
There have been a few people commenting about "illegal immigrants" and accusing the Scottish Government of wanting to throw the doors open. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Firstly, the term "illegal immigrant" is a complete misnomer. It is not an offence to enter the UK undocumented, and if it were, then those detained would be treated as criminals. They would be arrested, charged, and tried by a jury of their peers. That simply does not happen. Instead, undocumented people in the UK are detained, processed and assessed by Border Force, and unless they can provide proof of refugee status, they are deported. At no point do charges or trials come into it. It is only where a deportee re-enters the UK undocumented that it becomes an offence. The important point here as many have stated, including the Scottish Justice Secretary Humza Yusaf, "no person is illegal".
Secondly, the position of the Scottish Government in condemning the raid does not say that they want to "throw the doors open". Rather, it is that immigration into Scotland should be a matter for the Scottish Government. Not least because Scotland has a separate law system, and separate police, to England. No-one is saying for one moment that we cannot discuss immigration, nor prevent entry of those who may be undesirable. Rather that Scotland should be solely responsible for who comes into the country, and the only way to possibly achieve that is for Scotland to become fully independent.
