History of EUROPE ROMA UK-Ladiskav Balaz
Leicester, 15 September
Leicester is thought of by many as a successful example of ‘multicultural’ Britain. The Diwali celebrations, which take over the city’s streets annually in October, have become well known as a symbol of this success. Yet, as became apparent at the Civil Rights Caravan welcoming meeting on 15 September, for many of Leicester’s residents the city remains a dangerous and hostile place.
NCRM members will be familiar with the case of Liban Ali, a Somali asylum seeker, who was beaten by a racist gang of four white youths while waiting with a friend at a Leicester bus stop in June 1999. Liban Ali did not die but he remains in hospital in a vegetative state. Out of the four attackers only one was charged with attempted murder and this charge was eventually reduced to grievous bodily harm. He will probably be back on the streets in six months’ time.
Liban is not the only asylum seeker in the city to have faced violent racism. The 300 people who attended the Caravan meeting heard from refugees currently accommodated at the International Hotel, a rundown hotel which is now being used as a hostel for around 400 asylum seekers. They spoke of regular racist attacks on them which, in some cases, left them with serious injuries. An Iranian refugee said that a couple of months after an attack, he still has difficulty walking. ‘We have reported the case to police officers but we have never heard anything from them. I have been to hospital a couple of times but they ask me to sit there for six or seven hours and then do not give me any treatment at all.’ Since June, doctors’ surgeries in Leicester have refused to register any more refugee patients.
Residents of the International Hotel refugee hostel in Leicester describe their appalling living conditions. |
On the night of the meeting a further 100 people had just arrived at the hostel after being forcibly dispersed there from London. It was not clear where beds would be found for them. There was little doubt that people were just being dumped in hostels without any care or concern for their welfare. The result was that many people were in a state of confusion. Conditions in the hostel itself were described by Afshin, from Iran, as inadequate. ‘The hotel is unhygienic and the food that they are giving us is insufficient. Nothing gets cooked properly; nothing gets washed. One of my friends in the hotel went to the kitchen to try to give them a hand and saw for himself that none of the food was being washed or cooked properly. The heating system, the air conditioning and sometimes the electric power does not work at all. Even the lift does not work. A friend of mine who is pregnant finds it really hard to get to her room. They are keeping us in camps and they call it a hotel.’ Complaints to the management have been met with indifference.
The Caravan meeting also heard from Walcott Hill, a black man who has lived in Leicester for decades, about the death of his son, Spencer, in August last year. Spencer was walking in the town centre with a friend. On their way to a nightclub, they turned a corner to be confronted by a gang of white people who shouted ‘get the niggers’. They chased Spencer and his friend, while a police car arrived on the scene. The police car chased after Spencer, who, in fleeing, leapt over a barrier and was hit by the car and killed. Suresh Grover, chair of the NCRM, said of the case: ‘While it is shocking that Walcott has lost a son in these circumstances, it is also outrageous that there has not been an inquest to find the cause of death and none of the white perpetrators have been arrested or charged. Instead one black victim has been arrested and charged with an offence and fined for it. Walcott and his wife have not had a shred of news from the police as to what the nature of the investigation is, or whether there is any investigation at all.’
Following the meeting, a local Civil Rights Caravan support group was established by Leicester residents. The support group has brought together volunteers with legal, medical and teaching skills who are offering practical support to local asylum seekers in weekly drop-in sessions.
For more information on Leicester Civil Rights Caravan support group, contact Priya Thamotheram on 0116 253 1053. Leicester picture by Monica Hingorani
Oxford, 17 September
The Civil Rights Caravan joined Oxford Barbed Wire conference and demonstrated outside Campsfield Detention Centre
Brighton, 24 September
The Civil Rights Caravan visited the town to picket the Labour Party Conference
Sheffield, 29 September
On 29 September the Civil Rights Caravan arrived in Sheffield to be greeted by a local welcoming committee in the town centre. The Caravan toured the inner area of the city, examining conditions in a refugee hostel and assisting asylum seekers with shopping trips to supermarkets using vouchers.
The Civil Rights Caravan is welcomed in Sheffield city centre. |
A public meeting in the Burngreave area was attended by around 300 people . Maria Vasquez, a Chilean woman who settled in Sheffield with her family in 1978 after fleeing the Pinochet dictatorship, recalled how her community was able to maintain an informal network of local support for new arrivals, something not possible under today’s dispersal programme. Summing up the mood of the meeting, she complained that: ‘People don’t seem to make the connection between the treatment of asylum seekers and racism.’
Suresh Grover addresses the Civil Rights Caravan public meeting in Sheffield. |
Newcastle, 30 September
Damaris Hernandez (pictured below, standing with her translator David), a Colombian refugee and member of the Caravan, was one of the speakers at a rally in Newcastle’s Bigg Market on 30 September. ‘I am in the Caravan because I believe that it is a place where human and civil rights of all can be defended. We all have a common theme, which is respect for people.’
Damaris Hernandez addressing a rally in Newcastle city centre. |
The Civil Rights Caravan banner is carried through Newcastle city centre. |
The Caravan arrived in Newcastle to join a demonstration of around 500 people protesting against the treatment of asylum seekers. Following the demonstration and rally a meeting was held with locally based refugees. The Newcastle group is now meeting fortnightly.
Ladislav Balaz, leader of the Europe-Roma organisation, addresses the rally in Newcastle city centre. |
One of the main concerns will be to develop support for the Angel Heights Seven, a group of refugees who campaigned for improved living conditions in a Newcastle hostel, only to be charged with violent disorder. The Seven are still awaiting trial.
For more information, contact North East Campaign for Asylum Rights, PO Box 787, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE99 1DJ.
Exeter, 6 October, Plymouth, 7 October, Bristol, 8 October, Margate, 20 October, Dover, 22 October
In early October, the Civil Rights Caravan visited the south-west of England, an area where far-Right groups have recently been active and black people are often isolated in their struggles against racism. A south-west branch of the National Civil Rights Movement was launched a year ago to counter this isolation. The Caravan’s visits to Exeter and Plymouth were marked with anti-voucher pickets, public meetings and ‘Rock Against Racism’ events. The Caravan also visited local Gypsy sites and linked up with refugee groups in Bristol.
Civil Rights Caravan in Bristol. |
Later in October, the Caravan was in Dover and Margate – areas which have become hot-spots of anti-refugee hostility and violence. The Caravan was particularly concerned to provide support to the refugees resident in these towns, who are in desperate need of emergency legal support and translators. Caravan activists returned to Margate in November to continue providing practical support for refugees there. In Dover, the death of the 58 Chinese migrants earlier this year was marked.
Manchester, 29 October
The Civil Rights Caravan arrived in Manchester on 28 October where a reception had been organised in Moss Side. The next morning, after leafleting in the city centre, a public meeting was held at the Pakistani Community Centre in Longsight. Speakers included Christopher Alder’s sister Janet, Sam Azad of the Federation of Iranian Refugees and asylum seeker Omari Mtiga who spoke of his experiences of detention, vouchers and racism. A branch of the Civil Rights Caravan was established to develop further activities in Manchester.