Two Indian men being held in a detention van on “suspected immigration offences” walked free with the help of a human rights lawyer after an eight-hour protest by their neighbours in the Scottish city of Glasgow.

Sumit Sehdev, a chef, and Lakhvir Singh, a mechanic, both in their 30s, have reportedly been in the UK for 10 years. Six UK Immigration Enforcement officers, backed by Police Scotland, removed them from their home in the Pollokshields area of Glasgow on Thursday and put them into a van heading to a detention centre, but were soon surrounded by a large crowd of protesters determined to free them.