As the day went on, hundreds of people from the local community started to turn up and surround the van, with protesters refused to back down, and chanting “these are our neighbours, let them go” and “refugees are welcome here”. 

READ MORE: Douglas Alexander fails to say whether Scotland is in a voluntary union

At around 5.45pm, the men were finally released from the back of the police van to cheers.

Glasgow politician Thomas Kerr, who defected from the Scottish Tories to Nigel Farage’s party in January, told the BBC’s Sunday Show presenter Martin Geissler that he doubted whether the action would be seen “now”.

Geissler quizzed Kerr on his party’s mass deportation plan, saying: “You don’t have to look too far back in Glasgow’s recent history to see what happens when immigration officers go and knock on the door of people and say, ‘right, you’re coming with us, you’re collared’.

“That happened in Kenmure Street, didn’t it? Before you know it, there’s a couple of 1000 people sitting on the street, blocking in the police vans, and the immigration officers had to leave with their tails between their legs empty-handed.

He added: “And do you know what, a lot of people up here, Thomas Kerr, take a great deal of pride in the fact that that happened.

“If you implement this policy with that same methodology, how’s it going to end up here?”

Kerr, speaking from Birmingham, responded: “So I’m not convinced, Martin, that if we saw an issue like Kenmure Street that would happen now.”

Geissler interrupted to ask: “So you think the public’s attitude in Glasgow, particularly those people who sat down on that street, have changed their minds about immigration?

“You will always have people who are left wing activists who will try and disrupt this sort of stuff,” Kerr argued.

READ MORE: Inside the Labour Government’s cruel battle to separate refugee families

“That’s exactly what happens in a democracy, but I am not convinced that the vast majority of the public would not want us to try and make sure that we are tackling the issue of illegal migration and those who should not be in the country.

“So I’m not convinced we would see the sights what we’ve seen in Kenmure Street. But even if we did, the police would have to have the resources to make sure we tackled that because the public are crying out for action to be taking place.

“Only Reform UK are the people who come up with a plan, as you see, we have the mass deportation plan that Nigel’s put in place. We’ll put that to the public and we’re the only ones speaking about this issue.

“Every other party is now following us, but we’re the only ones who have a clear plan on it.”