Falkirk charity Friends of Scottish Settlers vows to continue supporting asylum seekers despite unrest

A charity in Falkirk has vowed to continue helping asylum seekers at the Cladhan Hotel despite unrest and an increasingly hostile atmosphere.

The hotel has been at the centre of asylum and anti-immigration protests in recent weeks, but volunteers with Friends of Scottish Settlers (FOSS) said they’ll continue trying to help residents.

The Falkirk charity group has been working with the men housed by the Home Office in the Cladhan Hotel for four years.

They are “heartbroken” to see the angry demonstrations that have been held outside in recent weeks.

Several of the group’s members have felt compelled to join the counter-protests, who also gather outside the Cladhan to show support for the men inside.

FOSS has been told that those living in the former hotel have found it “heartening” to know that there is support them and that “there are people who care”.

Sarah Stewart says that the charity’s team – nearly all female – have never felt afraid of working in the hotel in all the years working there.

“They are just ordinary people in a very difficult situation,” she said. “We’ve been getting along, doing our stuff for almost four years and suddenly someone has decided they are going to make a target of these guys.

Ms Stewart says its “depressing and frightening” to see how disinformation spread online is so easily spread and how people are “being tried in the court of social media”.

Far from having “the best of gear”, Ms Stewart says that many asylum seekers arrive wearing shorts and sandals, so the charity tries to help them with the basics.

“People get less than £10 per week to cover everything beyond a bed and three very basic meals a day – its basically warehousing people.

“In Scotland, you can’t do much without a pair of shoes for most of the year so we do our best to provide them.

“None of it is guaranteed – we do our best, but when people say they have the best of gear, that’s just not accurate.”

The group also uses funding to do social activities with the men although that is now much more difficult in such a hostile atmosphere and they are no longer publicised for safety reasons.

“Technically, they are able to go out – but the crowds are pretty threatening and we have had activities cancelled so that we don’t endanger the guys as they go in and out of the accommodation,” said Ms Stewart.

FOSS said that asylum hotels, where men can wait for months while their claims are processed, are “not good for anyone”.

They believe allowing people to work while they wait would give them an income that would allow them to buy their own food and be better for their mental health.

The conviction of a man, then living in the Cladhan, for the rape of a teenage girl in Falkirk town centre sent shockwaves through the community.

The volunteers were appalled, but while they understood the anger and fear, they did not accept that one man’s crime should mean all the others living in the same situation were also guilty.

“That happened and it was awful and I don’t ever want to play down that sort of violence,” said Ms Stewart.

“But it doesn’t mean that the guys are any more or less of a threat than anyone else walking down the street.”

She also takes issue with people calling the men “illegals”.

“These are people who are claiming their legal right to asylum,” she said.

She acknowledges that many ordinary people from Falkirk have been at the protests, perhaps unwittingly standing alongside banners with slogans that have included ‘Kill em all – let God decide’ and chanting ‘send them home’.

She says the cost of living crisis and a desperate shortage of housing have left many people angry and frustrated – but she says it’s simply not true to suggest that the asylum seekers are the cause of these problems.

“I’m also worried about housing, I’m worried about the cost of living – these are real problems, but it has nothing to do with these guys,” she said.

“And it means that the problems we are facing become that much more difficult to tackle because of all of this misplaced rage.

“The cost of living and housing, these are real problems but what people are being told is the source of these problems is simply not true.

She added: “They are as diverse a group as anyone else – it’s hard to know what to say except that if they were to all disappear tomorrow the problems that people have won’t go away, because in reality they are a tiny, tiny number.

“I worry also that as people are told this is the cause of your problems, solving those problems become less and less likely.”

Ms Stewart doesn’t want to speak for the 90 men still living in the Cladhan.

“It’s hard for me to say how the guys are feeling because people cope in different ways.

“But it’s really distressing for us who have been getting along fine until all of this started.”

She believes that the situation now calls for political leadership and for facts and information to counteract the hate.

“People have legitimate problems and they need to be listened to but all this furore is making it difficult to address those problems not less,” Ms Stewart said.

“I think people who have public responsibility need to tackle this with integrity and from a facts-based perspective.”

Whatever happens, the volunteers plan to “continue doing what we are doing” as much as they can.

“We don’t want anyone in the Falkirk community to be abandoned,” said Ms Stewart.

“The guys for however long they are in Falkirk are locals too.

“We’ll keep trying – we’ll do our best.”