Dundee City Council is being urged to take direct action to make Dundee the “City of Compassion” and help to ease the plight of refugees desperate to come to the UK.
A group of concerned Dundonians has written to every city councillor asking them to publish a joint statement welcoming refugees “with open arms”.
They also want the city council to request help from the UK Government to assist in the effort.
Janice Aitken, a lecturer at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, is coordinating the petition to the councillors and has also helped publicise the efforts of other concerned people, including her friend Marianne Scott, who have already organised humanitarian trips to Calais with food and clothing for the refugees stranded at Calais.
In addition, Mike Press, chairman of design policy at the college, has set up a collection point there for people to donate goods to the humanitarian effort.
The letter to the councillors points out that huge numbers of Dundonians are “deeply disturbed” by the images they’ve seen recently and want to help.
City council leader Ken Guild said: “I am aware of the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme and have asked the chief executive and his senior officers to investigate the scheme with a view to identifying what support Dundee City Council and our partners can offer in light of this humanitarian crisis.
“I have asked the chief executive to look into this as a matter of urgency.”