The Cladhan Hotel has been at the centre of anti-immigration protests in Scotland

A charity in Falkirk has vowed to continue supporting asylum seekers in a local hotel despite far right-inspired unrest. 

Those staying at the Cladhan Hotel in the town have faced an increasingly hostile atmosphere over the summer after being at the centre of anti-immigration protests in Scotland. 

Volunteers with Friends of Scottish Settlers (FOSS) have now said they’ll continue trying to help residents, having worked with those staying at the site for over four years. 

Members of FOSS say they are heartbroken by the near-weekly scenes in the town, and have joined counter-protests. 

One volunteer said that the majority women-team of FOSS has never felt more scared. 

FOSS’ Sarah Stewart told STV: “They are just ordinary people in a very difficult situation. 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.

“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.”

FOSS provide social activities for the men at Cladhan, which they have had to stop publicising for safety reasons.  

She added: “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. 

“These are people who are claiming their legal right to asylum.

“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.

“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.

“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.”