Glasgow's Day of Defiance: How Pyjama-Clad Neighbors Stood Against Immigration Raid
On a clear spring morning in May 2021, UK Immigration Enforcement chose Eid al-Fitr to conduct a raid in Glasgow's most diverse neighborhood. Targeting a property in the southside, officials detained two men living there. What followed became one of the most remarkable acts of spontaneous civil resistance in recent British history.
The Eight-Hour Standoff
Within hours, hundreds of local residents surrounded the immigration van, preventing it from leaving Kenmure Street. The standoff lasted eight hours until authorities finally released the two men back into their community. This extraordinary event has now been captured in the documentary Everybody to Kenmure Street, directed by Felipe Bustos Sierra, which recently won a special jury award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Community in Action
The film presents a granular anatomy of protest and a heartfelt tribute to community spirit. Through painstakingly assembled footage gathered from social media and participants over four and a half years, the documentary shows the developing scene from every possible viewpoint. Director Bustos Sierra introduces the diverse cast of characters who answered the call that day.
Remarkably, not everyone was a protest veteran. The film features interviews with a neighbor who ran onto the street in his pyjamas, a community activist responding to a text alert, the local imam, and a schoolkid on his way to biology class. All were drawn by the pull of this single event, creating what Bustos Sierra describes as "a practical shift" in how protest is conducted.
Historical Context and Modern Resistance
The documentary grounds the protest in Glasgow's rich history of activism, incorporating archive footage of rent strikes and shipyard occupations. Bustos Sierra, whose Chilean father fled Pinochet's regime in 1973, previously directed the award-winning Nae Pasaran about Scottish workers who refused to repair jet engines for Chile's airforce.
"They were surrounded by people who have done this for decades," says Bustos Sierra, referencing younger activists like Roza Salih, one of the Glasgow Girls who fought against child detention in the 2000s. The film doesn't shy away from Glasgow's complex history either, acknowledging through curator Zandra Yeaman that while the city sees itself as anti-racist and radical, it was "built off the back of enslaved African people."
The Anonymous Hero and Celebrity Voice
The protest was enabled by one particularly courageous act: an activist who slipped under the vehicle and wrapped his arm around the axle shortly after breakfast. Known only as "Van Man," he has chosen to remain anonymous ever since. In the film, his recollections are voiced by actress Emma Thompson, an admirer of Bustos Sierra's previous work who serves as executive producer on this project.
Thompson appears on camera squished beneath a chassis, pulling down her face mask to deliver Van Man's words: "This isn't my face but these are my words." Bustos Sierra says he wanted to capture "the sense of defiance and mischief that people brought" to the protest.
Timely Message in Changing Times
Five years after the protest, with anti-immigration sentiment building across the UK and Reform UK poised to win seats in Holyrood elections, the film's message feels particularly urgent. "People need to hear a story like this now," says Pinar Aksu, one of the younger activists interviewed. "We don't always have a victory at the end of our stories, but hope is all we've got."
Interestingly, Bustos Sierra himself didn't participate in the protest despite living within walking distance. "I didn't think anything positive would come of it," he admits. He now sees the film as an act of atonement, adding: "We need to remember: if we don't turn up, nothing happens. I missed out on that collective joy and expression of empathy which to me is happiness. The point is you just have to keep turning up."
Community Infrastructure in Action
As the day progressed, the nearby bus shelter transformed into a makeshift support station, stocked with donated drinks, snacks, and even someone's Eid cake. Bustos Sierra notes that the initial outrage was replaced by practical preparedness, particularly among Muslim participants who had been spiritually prepared during Ramadan. As one Muslim activist puts it: "They had the time. We had the water."
The protest demonstrated how activist networks that have rooted in Glasgow's southside for over a century can mobilize rapidly. But more importantly, it showed how ordinary people—regardless of experience or background—can create extraordinary change through collective action.
Everybody to Kenmure Street premieres at the Glasgow Film Festival on February 25, offering both a detailed record of a remarkable day and a timely reminder of what communities can achieve when they stand together.
