Asylum seeker attacks targeted

There is concern over a rise in attacks

Police are launching special patrols in an attempt to stamp out abuse aimed at asylum seekers in Glasgow.

An interpreter is also be employed to help police overcome communication barriers, which often prevent them from dealing effectively with asylum seekers living in the city

The initiative was prompted by growing concern at the number of apparently racist attacks on asylum seekers.

The city council is holding talks with the Scottish Refugee Council in a bid to make the streets safer and change attitudes to those taking refuge in Glasgow.

Ghazi Hussein is afraid to go out in the evening

A large number of asylum seekers in Glasgow are housed in the city's Sighthill area.

Concern for their welfare grew last month when two Palestinian brothers were attacked.

An Iraqi Kurd was also severely beaten in the same area at the weekend.

Another Palestinian, Ghazi Hussein, said he will not risk his or his children's safety by going out at night

Mr Hussein told BBC Scotland: "If I want to go out and somebody throws a stone or a glass at one of my kids then I can't face the blame after that for what has happened, so, I don't go out."

Communication barriers

Strathclyde Police said that many refugees are simply too afraid to go outside after dark.

Now officers are attempting to build bridges with the asylum seeker community and are patrolling the streets of Sighthill with an interpreter

Inspector Tom Harrigan: "Communication barrier"

Inspector Tom Harrigan said: "We feel as though we have a barrier just now - a communication barrier.

"Anything to break down those barriers will help the communication process."

The project is thought to be the first of its kind in Britain and is said to have meant an immediate improvement to race relations in the area.

Glasgow City Council discussed a possible extension of the programme and other measures to combat racism with the Scottish Refugee Council (SRC) at a meeting on Wednesday.

Poor housing

The lord provost hopes that a more co-operative approach will rid the city of its reputation as being a difficult place to live for asylum seekers.

The council asserts that asylum seekers are being victimised because of the wider problems in the communities in which they live.

The SRC's Sally Daghlian said: "The reason people are living in, for example, poor housing in Sighthill isn't to do with the fact that asylum seekers are there.

"In fact, asylum seekers are being moved in because nobody else wants to live in that housing."