STEEL barricades on the windows and doors. Huge padlocks on every entrance. Graffitied walls, empty cans, and smashed bottles.
On first impressions, the derelict former care home on Denmark Street in Glasgow’s Possilpark does not look fit to house anyone at all, let alone vulnerable people seeking asylum.
Regardless, the site has found itself the target of online disinformation in recent days after a rumour wrongly claimed that it was set to be turned into accommodation for asylum seekers.
There is a planning application for the site to be expanded and brought back into use as a care home, which Glasgow City Council made clear last week in a statement attacking “false information” that “can cause damage to Glasgow's communities”.
But the fact there are no plans to house asylum seekers there did not stop far-right groups from capitalising on local concerns to stoke protests there over the weekend. Video shared online shared more than 100 people outside the building on Saturday, with some holding a banner from the neo-Nazi group Patriotic Alternative.
However, the online rumours have since evolved, with fresh claims saying not that asylum seekers will be housed there, but that some already are.
On Sunday, a video filmed outside the care home showed police vehicles inside the site – and it was alleged that they were there to remove asylum seekers living inside.
Nobody could be seen being taken from the building in the video clip, and locals in the area who saw the police vehicles themselves told The National they had not seen officers take anyone from the site.
Some concerned residents nearby were then taken around the building by police, The National was told, but did not see anyone living there.
However, one woman who was shown inside alleged that this was only because officers had secretly removed the asylum seekers by using police vans to obscure the view from across the fencing before she had been allowed to look around.
Police Scotland has been asked for clarification on what their officers were doing on the site on Sunday.
Amid the force’s silence, more rumours have been spreading among locals in the area, who told The National they are not sure who to believe.
But the one woman’s response to being shown around inside raises questions about whether people would even believe the evidence of their own eyes and ears. As far-right fuelled disinformation flourishes in Scotland, that is the problem facing all of us.
Facts Only
* Steel barricades were placed on windows and doors of the building.
* Huge padlocks were placed on every entrance.
* Walls were graffitied, and there were empty cans and smashed bottles visible.
* The site is a derelict former care home on Denmark Street in Glasgow’s Possilpark.
* A planning application exists to expand and bring the site back into use as a care home.
* Far-right groups protested outside the building over online rumors regarding asylum seeker accommodation.
* A video showed police vehicles inside the site on Sunday.
* An individual alleged that officers used police vans to remove asylum seekers before allowing observation of the area.
* Police Scotland has been asked for clarification on actions taken on Sunday.
Executive Summary
Full Take
The narrative shifts from property damage and local concern over a derelict building to a crisis of trust fueled by evolving online disinformation regarding asylum seeker housing. The initial fear projected by physical neglect is leveraged by external actors who utilize existing community anxieties, specifically those related to migration and asylum, to mobilize opposition against planned redevelopment or perceived government actions. A critical point is the discrepancy between publicly reported facts (no stated plans for asylum seekers) and the subsequent spread of unsubstantiated, highly emotive claims, which then create an environment where eyewitness testimony is immediately suspect. The final account regarding police action introduces a layer of acute uncertainty, suggesting that even direct visual evidence can be manipulated or withheld, forcing a confrontation with the difficulty in establishing verifiable truth when narratives are weaponized. This pattern suggests that the efficacy of civic discourse is undermined not just by misinformation, but by the deliberate creation of an atmosphere where credibility itself becomes the contested terrain.
Patterns detected: ARC-0024 Ambiguity, ARC-0043 Motte-and-Bailey