The daughter of trade union activist Jimmy Reid has told how her father would have been so proud of the community in Glasgow who rallied together to stop two men snatched in an immigration raid.
Eileen, 62, who lives close to Kenmure Street in Pollokshields, where events unfolded on Thursday, saw the eight-hour stand-off and said if her dad was still alive he would have been in the thick of things.
Border Force officials released Lakhvir Singh and Sumit Sehdevi from their van after being surrounded by protesters.
Writer and lecturer Eileen said: “Jimmy lived in this area all of his life and he would have been hugely proud of what happened.
“When people ask me what he would have thought about things, I sometimes can’t be sure but I am certain about this.
“He would have been down there addressing the crowd and fighting this injustice.
“The atmosphere really reminded me of the shipyard union demonstrations that dad led – it was peaceful and controlled and dignified.”
Jimmy, regarded as a working class hero, was spokesman and one of the leaders in the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in from 1971 to 1972.
His speeches were legendary and Eileen – taken to peaceful protests by him as a child – said lawyer Aamer Anwar’s words on Thursday to the 1000-strong crowd reminded her of him.
Video of the attempted detainment taken by Eileen has been viewed more than seven million times online. The married mum of two said Jimmy would have been horrified by the suggestion the protesters were a “mob”.
She said: “These men have lived and worked in the area for years, this is their home and they were being treated barbarically.
“The people who helped have them released were not a ‘mob’ as the Home Office have claimed, they were just decent neighbours standing up for what is right.”
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf launched a scathing attack on the “reckless and disgraceful” Home Office over attempts to detain the men in the raid at 9.30am.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Kenmure Street chanting “Leave our neighbours, let them go” and police took the decision they should be let go in the interests of public safety.
In the Sunday Mail Yousaf has criticised the “inhumane practices of the Home Office” and called dawn raids “completely unacceptable”.
He called the action in the heart of Glasgow’s Muslim community on the day of Eid “reckless in the extreme”.
He added: “I saw briefing to the media from Home Office sources describing the protesters as a ‘mob’.
“That’s a disgraceful slur on what was a peaceful demonstration from people and a community simply concerned about one of their neighbours being a victim of the UK’s hostile environment.”
The men, who had been held in the van since the morning were released after 5pm.
It followed pressure from human rights groups and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is the area’s constituency MP.
She accused the Home Office of creating “a dangerous and unacceptable situation” and tweeted the UK Government department had to ask itself “hard questions”.
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