APPEAL FOR MIGRANT JUSTICE
Campaigners march to Glasgow branch of Home Office
AROUND 1000 campaigners took to the streets of the Southside yesterday, demanding justice for migrants. They set off from Kenmure Street in Pollokshields which was the site of a protest against the Home Office detention of two Indian nationals Sumit Sehdev and Lakhvir Singh in May.
Activists marched to the Glasgow branch of the Home Office on Brand Street calling for an end to what they claim is the UK Government’s hostile environment policy.
The protest was organised by Migrants Organising for Rights and Empowerment (MORE), No Evictions and the Unity Centre and was held to coincide with COP26.
Councillor Jon Molyneux was there to show his support.
He said: “I’m so pleased to see hundreds of people come together in Pollokshields this morning, to make clear that climate justice demands migrant justice.
“A fitting way to mark six months since an incredible act of solidarity on Kenmure Street.”
Yvonne is a representative of MORE. She said: “We are here not by choice. My ancestors were taken and sold in slavery. We came here through our blood sweat and tears. We built this country. This country belongs to us and we will not hide.
“The people who created the racist climate crisis are the same people who are sitting in the COP26 negotiations claiming to be solving it. But we have seen that COP26 is not about black lives matter. It is not about indigenous lives matter. It is just replicating the very same structures that got us here. Unless you speak about racial justice and migrant justice there cannot be climate justice.
“The climate crisis is forcing millions of people off their ancestral lands by destroying agricultural land, driving drought, disease and extreme weather. The UK has a vast historical responsibility for driving this crisis yet instead of enabling people to escape its effects it is militarising borders and further criminalising migrants.
“If we want climate justice we must end detention, stop deportations, end the hostile environment, and create a world where migrants can live in dignity.”