A decision by Police Scotland not to send officers to an anti-asylum protest and counter-protest in Erskine has led to "in your face violence", campaigners have said.
The Home Office has been using the Muthu Hotel to house asylum seekers since January of 2023, a move which was protested by the far-right group Homeland, which split from Patriotic Alternative in April last year.
A weekly counter-protest by trades unions, anti-racism groups and community members has gathered outside of the hotel every Sunday.
In recent months people from inside the hotel have come out to engage in activities such as football, rugby and drawing but in December Police Scotland said it would no longer attend the protest and counter-protest.
That has led to increased tension, with an assault taking place on December 24.
Alex Meyer of Stand Up To Racism says she had punches and kicks aimed at her, while a group of men allegedly assaulted Euan Mitchell with his own walking stick.
Ms Meyer said: "We knew a lot of the asylum seekers who have been placed in the hotel are Christian and many would be celebrating Christmas, alongside other religious groups that recognise and celebrate Christmas. We also knew how hard it must be away from family when holidays are celebrated.
"When I arrived at the hotel, the far-right protesters had already decided to start to try and approach the hotel, moving away from their usual 'space'.
"When we got there we could hear them repeating slurs and myths about people living in the hotel.
"I started videoing with one woman who then objected to being called a racist by someone behind me, when I told her she was a fascist she pulled the phone out of my hands, and tried to punch me.
Read More: Meet the barber who cuts hair for Erskine asylum seekers
"A disabled person who was present and had also been involved locally in the Erskine campaign tried to move in between, as soon as he moved, a group of three or more people took his walking stick from him, two people punched him and the rest tried to get him to the ground.
"I couldn't believe that on Christmas Eve people would spend their time harassing asylum seekers who've fled war and persecution."
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We were made aware of a disturbance involving two groups in the Erskine area around 11.50am on Sunday, 24 December, 2023.
“Officers attended but the groups involved had dispersed. No one presented as injured and no further complaints were made to Police Scotland.”
Paisley and District Trades Council's Robert Parker said: "Since the police told everyone that we’re not turning up every week anymore things seem to have gone from nothing to full in-your-face assault.
"The week before I'd parked the car up near the roundabout hoping they wouldn’t turn up, three Patriotic Alternative folk turned up rather than locals, then there was a bit of to and fro.
Read More: Far-right invasion: Inside the hijacking of a Scottish community meeting
"We kept asking the guy to stop filming us and at one point he kicked the front of the car.
“As soon as he moved out of the way we were off. Then you get to Christmas Eve, they’re there and we’re there.
"This woman walked down and was standing on the path where the road into the hotel is, sticking a finger up and making unkind comments to us - you name the drivel, she was coming out with it.
"She disappears off and another guy comes down, holds his hand out and is talking about Merry Christmas.
“My response was. ‘you think we’re going to say Merry Christmas to you after what your friend has just been doing and saying to us?’.
“I kind of noticed that the rest of them were coming down the path toward us, we were standing where we’ve always stood and they were confronting us on the grass on the road into the hotel, screaming and bawling.
“I was standing talking to a guy, one of the PA guys who insists he’s local but definitely is not, and the shouting started getting louder and louder behind me.
“I heard people half-screaming and realised that Euan had been hit, they grabbed his stick and started hitting him with it.
“At that point there was a kind of general melee, I’d started phoning the police and was going around in circles and getting nowhere."
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "We continue to monitor the protests at the Erskine Muthu Hotel and apply a proportionate police response each week.
"We continue to liaise with our partners and will assess whether officers are required to be deployed at the hotel, or if they can respond to any incidents as required.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel