Protesters plan Dungavel demonstration against detentions

PROTESTORS are planning to demonstrate outside a detention centre next month demanding an end to the “unacceptable” practice of holding asylum seekers for indefinite periods.

Helen Martin, assistant secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, urged people to turn out for the protest outside the Dungavel Immigration and Detention Centre in Lanarkshire on May 30.

“We want to raise awareness about the plight of people b ei ng held at Dungavel,” she said.

“We are par ticularly concerned that asylum seekers are being held for an indefinite amount of time and that this can severely impact on people’s mental health and wellbeing.”

Ms Mar tin said she believed holding people for an indefinite period of time was unacceptable.

She added: “There is a lot of focus on immigration and border controls but we want to shift the focus and create more humanity in the system.

“We have lost sight of the plight of people coming to this country for legitimate reasons.”

The move comes as SNP MEP Alyn Smith called for a rethink of the policy of indefinite detention and for a more humanitarian approach to immigration after thousands of migrants died in the Mediterranean.

“Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre is a prison where some of the world’s most vulnerable people are locked up, without trial and without time restraint,” he said.

“The UK Government calls such places migrant detention centres but let me be clear, I have seen the razor wire and if Dungavel isn’t a prison I don’t know what is.”