This week saw asylum seekers and Scottish residents with nothing left to lose, coming out and protesting against the regime of fear the home office is imposing on them.
This morning another of Glasgow’s asylum seeking families was brutally dawn raided. The Coban family who are Kurdish Turkish and have lived in Tarfside Oval in Cardonald for over 5 years were woken and dragged from their beds.
This morning another of Glasgow’s asylum seeking families was brutally dawn raided. The Coban family who are Kurdish Turkish and have lived in Tarfside Oval in Cardonald for over 5 years were woken and dragged from their beds.
Their son attends Cardonald’s Lourdes Primary School. He said afterwards that he was sad and upset at what had happened and what he had seen.
During the dawn raid a home office snatch squad forced their way into the family flat but Cem Coban broke free, ran out to the balcony on the 20th floor and threatened to throw himself off.
There was then a stand off as the Home Office snatch quad withdrew and Strathclyde police took over. Friends, neighbours and people from asylum seeking communities from around Glasgow and campaigners gathered. They chanted in support of the family and begged police and home office to leave them alone. Both asylum seekers and Scottish citizens in the local community were resolute in their determination that dawn raids must be stopped. They spoke of the terrorisation of their children and their fear of seeing them dragged from their beds mid sleep by home office officials. “If it can happen to the Coban family it can happen to us. Enough is enough.” Said one mother who is also an asylum seeker.
Mr Coban was terrified of being dawn raided and had made his way to the Kingsway flats the night before to support that community in their resistance to dawn raids and to learn from them. One neighbour who had been a victim of dawn raids by a military dictatorship in his own country commented that “I knew it was bad in my home country but I didn’t think in Scotland they did this to families”.
After five hours, Mr Coban decided to come in from the balcony and hand himself to the police, who arrested him for committing a breach of the peace. The demonstrators downstairs feared that he was being taken to Dungavel and lived up to their words not to allow this by blocking the path of the police van he was inside.
There was a five minute stand off after police were not able to move protestors who had sat down in front of their van. Eventually the police van reversed around the block of flats to where another van was waiting. The protestors saw this and ran round with police following, to block the path of this van as well. When the police caught up they began to push men women and children to the ground to allow the van to eventually leave. During this one woman collapsed and had to be taken in an ambulance to hospital.
Protestors said that if the police had came down and explained to them that Mr Coban was not being taken to Dungavel, this situation might not have happened.
Mrs Coban was later taken by ambulance to a hospital. Mr Coban was taken to Helen Street police station where he was charged. He will appear in court tomorrow.
