US-BORN flaming bagpiper Ryan Randall was flown out of Scotland yesterday courtesy of the Home Office after being detained when he arrived at Edinburgh Airport last week.
Randall, from Las Vegas, was held at the Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre in South Lanarkshire after being stopped by officials as he landed in Scotland on Thursday.
The 32-year-old spends 90 days a year in Scotland and hoped to take part in pro-independence events over the summer and to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe.
But instead he was put on a plane around 11.30am yesterday to head to Chicago and then to make his way home to Las Vegas from there.
His friend Sean Clerkin, of the Scottish Resistance, hit out Randall’s deportation.
“We are extremely disappointed that Ryan has been flown back to the United States. This is abuse of his human rights. He should not have been deported,” said Clerkin.
Randall famously led The Short Walk to Freedom, a rally of Yes voters through Edinburgh on the day of the independence referendum in September 2014, with flames shooting out of the top of his bagpipes.
About 100 people joined him in to make their way through the streets of the Craigmillar housing estate to the polling station.
The Home Office said last night it did not want to give a running commentary on the case.
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