Red Road: The Russian family were living there while applying for asylum. Pic: © STV
Campaigners have stepped up their call for a Fatal Accident Inquiry into the deaths of three asylum seekers who leapt from a Glasgow tower block.
MSP Anne McLaughlin confirmed on Friday that she had written to the Lord Advocate, calling for an official hearing into the case of the Russian family who were found at the bottom of their 31-storey building on Sunday.
Police say there are no suspicious circumstances in the case and officers are trying to identify next of kin before publicly identifying the family. However, local welfare groups have named the group as Serguei Serykh, his wife Tatiana and his stepson. The family are understood to have been living in the Red Road flats in Springburn since arriving from Canada to seek asylum in the UK.
However, the UK Border Agency confirmed it had advised the family that they were to be returned to the country where they had previously been granted protection.
During First Minister's Questions on Thursday, Alex Salmond said an FAI could be carried out. Then, speaking at a press conference on Friday, SNP member for Glasgow Ms McLaughlin said: "We don't know exactly what led to their deaths but we know people living in the area are extremely distressed.
"For the sakes of the three people who lost their lives, we absolutely have to have some sort of inquiry to find out if there were systematic failures that led to their deaths. There are other people in similar situations and we need to do it for their sakes as well."
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Local groups Positive Action in Housing and Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees said the tragedy had highlighted the plight of those seeking asylum. The organisations are now demanding changes to the system.
At Friday's press conference at Petershill Leisure Centre, one Red Road resident broke down, admitting that she too had contemplated suicide. The mother, who did not want to be identified, said she thought about taking her life before Christmas rather than face being sent back to her country.
She said: "I'm so upset about this because I wanted to kill myself as well. I was thinking, 'who is going to take care of my child'?
"They didn't want to die - the situation makes them want to kill themselves."
Robina Qureshi, of Positive Action in Housing, described the Red Road flats as a "ghetto of people who have been pushed to the brink by the Home Office".
She said documents showed that Government officials were aware of the risk of suicide in the family's case. She said: "I've seen documents to do with the family. These documents show that the Home Office was absolutely aware that that family were going to kill themselves.
"That family had stated it and they had it on record that the family were vulnerable."
Speaking about the asylum situation in the city generally, Ms Qureshi added: "When one takes away every safety net available to a human being... what you get is people who are prepared to put themselves over the edge.
"We need to know what drove them over the edge, we need a Fatal Accident Inquiry."
Margaret Woods, of the Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees, said: "People have hanged themselves, people have set themselves on fire in this city.
"We want answers and I would like to see those answers under oath. The community is traumatised by this, of course it is. We are all very angry and we are going to demand changes."
A statement issued by the UK Border Agency after the tragedy said no officers were in the vicinity of the flats when the family died and no "imminent" action to remove them from the UK had been planned.
"We will continue to work with Strathclyde Police while this incident is under investigation," a spokesman said.
A vigil was held at the tower block on Tuesday and a group of about 30 protesters gathered outside the offices of the UK Border Agency in Govan. A rally is set to take place in the city centre on Saturday.
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