Everybody to Kenmure Street

When the government came for their neighbours, an entire community stood in the way.

A new monthly series in partnership with Hot Docs, bringing visionary documentary filmmaking from around the world to Toronto’s East End.

From executive producer Emma Thompson comes an inspiring and profoundly moving portrait of what everyday citizens are capable of in the face of injustice. In May 2021, a U.K. Home Office dawn raid triggered one of the most spontaneous and successful acts of civil resistance in recent memory. In Scotland’s most diverse neighbourhood, hundreds of residents rush to the streets to stop the deportation of their neighbours. The morning in Glasgow, the first day of Eid, started as any other. But when neighbors heard through community message networks that two local men were snatched up for deportation, hundreds of people left their daily lives to rush down to Kenmure Street and put their bodies on the line. Though mostly strangers and with almost no planning, this extremely diverse group organized themselves, taking on essential roles to allow the collective to achieve their goal: protecting their own from government forces going after the most vulnerable among them. Everybody to Kenmure Street reminds us of the power that is always inherent in the people.