© Provided by The iA person who has placed themselves underneath the immigration van stopped by protesters in Kenmure Street (Photo: PA/Andrew Milligan)
A man who wedged himself under an immigration van for eight hours to stop the detainment of two migrants has been hailed as "an absolute hero".
The anonymous masked activist laid under the van's wheels on Kenmure Street in Glasgow to stop two men from being taken away by immigration authorities in the early hours of Thursday 13 May.
He was among hundreds who flocked to the street on Pollokshields after a social media post warned a UK immigration force van had detained Sumit Sehdev and Lakhvir Singh on the street on the city's southside.
The vehicle was left with nowhere to turn when the masked protester laid under the van's wheels to stop it from driving off.
By mid-morning, around 200 protesters surrounded the van to stop it moving, chanting "leave our neighbours, let them go" and "cops go home", Daily Record reported.
Mr Singh - the 34-year-old from India who was in the van during the entire protest - was later freed after police made the decision to order the release of the two men eight hours later.
The masked activist emerged from the van shortly after. A picture on Twitter showed him raising a fist in triumph while flanked by two Police Scotland officers, with admirers promising pints and relationship proposals.
One commenter tweeted: "This same guy rescued me from a domestically violent situation three years ago - quite literally forced my abuser to leave the house and never come back. Bloody amazing guy."
Another added: "If anyone knows this guy let him know he's got a standing invitation to our bar in Aberdeen and I'll personally buy his damn pints."
In a statement on Friday, the activist said: "Thank you so much friends! I'm really glad I could buy us enough time to get organised - but it was just that, *us*.
"Me and the guys in the van would have been f*cked if it hadn't been for you all keeping in touch and turning out in your hundreds. Collective direct action gets the goods!"
The campaigner asked commenters to spare donations for a campaign on GoFundMe to provide essential phone top-ups for migrants in Glasgow. The campaign has raised more than £7,000, and met its fundraising goal an hour after it was mentioned.
Campaigners have also paid tribute to Mohammad Asif, director of the Afghan Human Rights Foundation, who interrupted his Eid celebrations to protest the detention.
He was joined by Dr Sharandeep Singh, the Director of Sikhs in Scotland, who joined the peaceful protest after he worked a hospital shift.
"I'm so happy that my fate brought me to live here in Glasgow, where the people are so connected that they'll come out on to the streets to help one of their own," the released Mr Singh, 34, told ITV News.
He said being released gave him the "happiest feeling", and if he could say one thing to the protesters, it would be: "thank you very, very much."
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon condemned the Home Office's actions, calling it "a health and safety risk".
"To act in this way, in the heart of a Muslim community as they celebrated Eid, and in an area experiencing a Covid outbreak was a health and safety risk.
"Both as MSP and as FM, I will be demanding assurances from the UK Government that they will never again create, through their actions, such a dangerous situation."
A Home Office spokesperson said: "The UK Government is tackling illegal immigration and the harm it causes, often to the most vulnerable people, by removing those with no right to be in the UK. The operation in Glasgow was conducted in relation to suspected immigration offences and the two Indian nationals complied with officers at all times."