Anti-racism groups in Glasgow protested the far-right vilification of immigrants in the city in the wake of a stabbing incident on June 26, Friday. In the incident, six men were stabbed in the city’s Park Inn hotel and a male suspect was shot dead by armed police. The hotel was being used by housing contractor Mears to accommodate asylum seekers.
In the aftermath of the crime, right-wing nationalist Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage was quick to describe Park Inn as a “hotel housing illegal immigrants.” Farage claimed, “All over the UK, hotels are filling up with young men who are coming across the Channel every day,” and “It is a massive risk to our wellbeing.”
Activist group Stand Up to Racism said that Friday’s incident was the second tragedy reported in hotel detention in Glasgow in just two months. It rejected attempts by Farage and right-wing elements in Glasgow to use the tragedy to vilify and attack asylum seekers, adding that the city welcomes refugees.
Housing rights group, Positive Action in Housing, stated, “The Park Inn Hotel at WestGeorge Street, Glasgow is one of several hotels used controversially by Mears Group to house asylum seekers moved by Mears from temporary homes into hotels without any money at all. Syrian Refugee Adnan Elbi died last month in McLay’s Hotel.”
As per the group, Adnan was one of 370 asylum seekers forcibly moved into hotels with no physical distancing and no money. Park Inn Hotel was one of these hotels.
The group also said that, “Only on Friday, the Mears Group admitted to Scottish MPs that they had failed to do vulnerability assessments of asylum seekers who they forcibly moved.”
Socialist Worker reported that far-right and racist miscreants attacked around 200 refugees and their supporters, who were protesting the inadequacies in the services for asylum seekers at George Square in Glasgow two week ago.
