The evictions will enforce destitution onto the most vulnerable, many of whom have fled war-torn countries in hope that they would be treated with dignity and human rights in Britain. Instead they are  being forced to choose between returning home to persecution or to stay on the streets, with no sustainable access to food or shelter. Along with speeches from representatives of all the groups present there were also speeches from people who had come from Birmingham, Sheffield and Manchester who stated they admired the way all groups cooperated in the demonstration. It was a pity it had to be curtailed because of an illegal counter demonstration run by a fascist splinter group of the British Defence League. There were several members of Justice and Peace Groups present who marched along with Bishop Peter Moran, the Bishop President of Justice and Peace, Scotland and Ellen Charlton its chair. Bishop Peter was one of the speakers.  He began by saying “I have come today from Inverness, but I am a Glaswegian, born and bred here. Beside me is Ellen, Chair of our Justice and Peace Commission.  Today I am ashamed for my native city – not ashamed OF Glasgow, but ashamed FOR Glasgow.  Two points in particular concern me if these evictions take place – first, there are children involved, some of whom may even have been born here; second, there is the fear that these people have about going back to the country from which they fled.”

Message from Archbishop Mario Conti on asylum seekers
I am sorry that I am not able to be with you personally today but I wanted to express my absolute disgust and strong condemnation of the planned, acknowledged and apparently agreed action of compulsory destitution of more than 80 human beings in this city of Glasgow later this summer.
When I became aware of the gravity of the situation, I, like most people, hoped that the information we were receiving must be wrong.  “There must be some mistake,” I said.
It seemed utterly inconceivable that a country with such strong traditions of welfare provision, fairness and social cohesion could allow innocent persons to be evicted from housing, banned from working, left without food and shelter and effectively cast into an abyss with no safety net, no hope and no protection.
Yet it has become clear over recent weeks that such a move is exactly what is being prepared, and that unless the powers-that-be can be shocked out of their cruelty and harshness, we will see an unspeakable crime against human dignity perpetrated in our own city.
I appeal to all of you today to make every one of your friends, relatives, neighbours and workmates aware of this problem.  Remind them that this is not a scare story. This is not an exaggeration. We are faced with a carefully-crafted plan to cast innocent human beings, whose only crime is to have been born in a country that is ravaged by war or human rights abuses, out into the deep without shelter, without support and without any means of escape.
The Catholic Church will not be silent on this issue.  We as a Church have a millennial tradition of caring for the most vulnerable, and of speaking out against attacks on the dignity of the human person. All people of good will must surely share our horror at what is being planned.
Every Glaswegian should know what is being proposed in their city. Every Glaswegian should register their disgust at this situation, and the Government must be told that we will not, we cannot, allow this unbelievable act of heartlessness to be perpetrated in our name.
Thank you very much.

Read Archbishop Conti's letter to the Herald 10/6/12 here