The unprecedented level of participation by immigrant workers strengthened the action, called by the Scottish Trade Union Congress to mark the second anniversary of the center. The rally won broad backing from trade unions, political parties, and religious and welfare organizations, and was about 10 times the size of a protest this time a year ago. The Glasgow Refugee Action Group, the newly formed Scottish African Refugee Community Association, and other immigrant rights organizations brought about one-third of the participants.

Ten double-decker buses carrying more than 600 people from Glasgow wound their way down the narrow country lanes to reach the prison’s rural site. More than 400 people had attended a public meeting the previous night in Glasgow to protest against the detention of children at Dungavel. At one point, several hundred protesters maintained a barrage of blows against the perimeter fence, chanting, “Scotland’s shame; Shut it down!”

Militant reporters spoke with immigrant workers from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kurdistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Senegal. Many spoke of their battles to gain the right to live and work in this country and carried documents showing what stage they were at in the long drawn-out legal process. Also present were small groups of more established immigrant workers from the Indian subcontinent.

“It’s good to be free again,” Mercy Ikolo told the crowd. Ikolo, who is from Cameroon, has been living in Ireland for more than a year. She was returning to Dublin August 17 after visiting friends in Scotland when she and her Irish-born daughter were detained by immigration authorities at the Scottish port of Stranraer and sent to Dungavel. Mothers cannot feed their children outside of the center’s set meal times, she said—whether or not they have eaten. Every movement is monitored, she said, and noted the difficulty in getting access to attorneys.

Glasgow Refugee Action Group representative Mohammed Naveen Asif called on participants to continue organizing, while Aamer Anwar, who acts as lawyer for many of the detainees, urged protesters to turn up to fill the court each time a case is heard. Ikolo’s release on bail, September 4, received extensive media coverage in the run-up to the demonstration.

As we waited to board the buses back to Glasgow, a group of young Asian women chanted, “One, two, three, four, we don’t want Dungavel no more; Five, six, seven, eight, we don’t want no racist hate!”

In the days leading up to the demonstration, newspapers carried a number of stories about conditions inside Dungavel, focusing on the imprisonment of children and helping show how arbitrary and unlimited the detentions often are. One report told the story of Fatima Jailana Muse from Somalia. Despite her husband having indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom, Muse is in Dungavel with her two daughters. Her jailers cut off her allowance of £3.50 (£1 = $1.58) after she took a Weetabix biscuit to her room to feed her baby, who was unable to eat at the set time. In spite of the growing controversy, and criticism by the Scottish National Party, the first minister of the executive of the Scottish parliament, Jack McConnell of the Labour Party, has refused to take a stand. “Asylum and immigration are reserved to the UK government,” said a spokesman. “The Executive does not interfere in policies reserved to Westminster and by the same token they would not interfere in issues that are devolved” to the Scottish parliament.  
 
 
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