Protesters say asylum seekers should be returned to housing

Protesters and activists are demanding that asylum seekers are removed from hotels and put back into homes.

During a protest in Glasgow on Wednesday night, asylum seekers and charities told the Home Office and Mears Group – the company in charge of housing refugees in the city – show their duty of care.

At the protest asylum seekers shared their experiences of living in the city, with one protester saying living in a hotel was no better than a detention centre.

The protesters are asking that the asylum seekers be returned to housing and their £5 daily allowance be reinstated.

The demonstration came just days after the conditions of asylum seekers was highlighted after Badreddin Abedlla Adam, a 28-year-old man from Sudan, injured six people at the Park Inn Hotel.

Robina Qureshi, from Positive Action in Housing, said there had been a “catalogue” of failures in the duty of care to refugees.

She added: “Let me put you into the Park Inn hotel where I was told ‘It’s like a pressure cooker in there’.

“These are not people on holiday, these are people who have come fleeing for their lives. But you have a Home Office with a culture of disbelief.

“This is about the failure of duty of care.

“Are women here able to buy sanitary protection? Shall we talk about the blood-stained sheets people are too afraid to put outside because they couldn’t have sanitary protection?

“You treat people with such indignity while taking a £1bn housing contract.”

Hegma, a refugee from Sudan, said the hotels asylum seekers were housed in were no better than detention centres.

She said: “You say we were all accommodated in hotels? Why are you complaining – it’s very nice rooms and nice services.

“But no, there is nothing there. It is a detention centre. You will be locked in a small, tiny room.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “These claims are inaccurate – when staying in hotel accommodation, all essential living needs, including three meals a day, healthcare, WiFi and TV, are met.

“This is all paid for by the taxpayer and there is no cost to the individual, so we do not pay an allowance in these circumstances.

“Those in hotels were not confined to their rooms and could come and go as they please, accommodation providers monitor the welfare of the residents and if any asylum seeker experiences issues, there is a 24-hour hotline available for support.”

The protesters are also calling for an inquiry into the treatment of asylum seekers during the lockdown, writing in a statement: “Both the Home Office and Mears Group have serious questions to answer.

“The uprooting of asylum seekers from their homes into hotels was always a bad response to the Covid-19 crisis. Many asylum seekers are living with trauma or long-term mental health problems associated with their harrowing life experiences.

“Transferring them to isolated hotel rooms beside strangers, without suitable vulnerability checks by either Mears or the Home Office was always a terrible idea.”

The Mears Group declined to comment.