Around 200 people attended a ‘Solidarity Sit-In’ at Stockton Parish Church on Thursday afternoon organised by the North-East Coalition for Asylum Rights. The event was organised to highlight the inhumanity of the government’s asylum and immigration bill, as well as the media offensive against refugee and asylum seekers. Amongst those in attendance were a healthy number of young people, many of whom were on holiday from school.
One of the organisers, Peter Widlinski, said “we are here to show solidarity with people who are being forced to live without any means of support, including housing benefit and income support; whilst also being denied the right to work.”
Mick Dunne, a local teacher had come seeking “information to use in my school to help challenge some of the stereotype’s that the pupil have of refugees” including the belief that “people coming to Britain get free mobile phones, even cars.”
Lambert Abri (above, right), had come to Britain a year ago from the Ivory Coast. “I used to be the chairperson for a group of teachers” and he was particularly active in opposing the persecution of people who were themselves refugees in the Ivory Coast. He was arrested and thrown into prison, and only that fact that “my parents had the money to bribe people” meant he lived to tell the tale and on escape he flew to Britain and claimed asylum.
Juste Djossou (above, left), from Togo, West Africa had been active in the opposition party in the country, and when he was arrested in 1998 he was forced to sign papers which said he would cease all such activities or face constant persecution and, although he didn’t say it probably certain death. “If you are a member of a political party and you speak against the Government in my country, you will go to prison.”
When he attended his first meeting in four years, on September 28th 2002, he came home to find that the military authorities had visited his house whilst he was at the meeting. He left immediately, travelling first to Ghana before escaping to Britain.
He was full of praise for those in Britain who have helped him. “Many local people in Stockton have been very supportive, some young people can be abusive, but a lot of people have been friendly.”
He has been dismayed at the reaction of the Home Office to his application for asylum. They have “said they don’t believe my story, why not?” Backed by the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns he has launched a campaign for the right to stay, and he was busy collecting signatures for a petition to be presented by his local MP to the Home Office.
Bridget Noble, a Lay Preacher at Stockton Parish Church, has for the last few years been helping to make people’s arrival in the town a welcoming one. Dispersed from their places of arrival or a detention centre many have arrived in the early hours of the morning, and Bridget has made them a warm drink, served up small amounts of food and dragged out camp beds so that “the exhausted” can get a few hours sleep in the Church before being moved into accommodation in Stockton and the surrounding areas.
She admits she has been shocked by some of the stories she has heard with “some people clearly having incredibly traumatic experiences.” This has convinced her that “from an entirely humanitarian point of view we have to help these people, who are clearly in desperate need.”
The experiences of the last few years had moved Bridget and her family into delving into their own past, and she has “found out that we are also immigrants from 200 to 300 years ago.”
Peter Widlinski, , said that over the last 12 months he estimated that “over 400 people in the Teesside area have lost their entitlements to benefits” following the introduction of Section 55 of the Asylum and Immigration Act that denies support to people who fail to lodge their asylum claim immediately on arrival. .
Asked what has happened to those without benefits he admitted he wasn’t entirely sure. “I do see some of them, but most have gone underground” with “probably quite a few moving to bigger cities such as London, where they may have friends they can stay with and can also try to find work.”
Those who have been unable to move have been forced to “find accommodation in their friend’s houses, often sleeping many to a room” and desperate for any money to feed themselves they have been forced to accept “jobs in which they get paid £5 for an eight hour day.” Yes, £5 for eight hours!
Widlinski spoke of a young African man who is HIV+ and needs good quality food on a regular basis to stay alive. “We have found that social services won’t even assess him.”
Thankfully, the Mary Thompson Fund, which was set up in memory of a local woman
who devoted much of her life to the care and support of others, in particular
the plight of refugees, has been able to provide the young man with £15
a week and a local grower of organic food has provided him with two big bags
of food.
The Mary Thompson Fund has also been able to offer some minimal support to the growing numbers being made homeless and with no benefits to support them, they have helped with emergency food packs for people, provided maternity wear and baby clothes, travel costs to visit relatives in detention and money for people studying at local colleges.
Widlinski was critical of the Labour Government’s pandering to the racist lobby. “By not standing up for the rights of asylum seekers, this has given a green light to groups such as the BNP and NF to stand candidates. Even small villages such as Loftus and Skelton have been leafleted by the BNP.“
The Asylum and Immigration [Treatment of Claimants, etc] Bill will result in Judges being excluded from examining Home Office decisions to remove any immigrant from the UK. This will undermine a fundamental principle of the British legal system by preventing government decisions being reviewed by the higher courts.
The Bill also proposes to introduce electronic monitoring of asylum seekers, introduces the possibility of jail terms of up to two years for new asylum applicants who arrive without valid travel documentation, even where this was the only way of reaching safety. It finally proposes the withdrawal of financial support for parents, which may result in their children being taken from them and placed in care.
The Bill is opposed by a large range of organisations including NECFAR, NCADC, JCWI as well as a range of trade union branches across the country.
Widlinski was heartened by the numbers who attended the Solidarity Sit-In, particularly the fact that there were “so many people we had never seen on any previous activities.”
“A lot of friendships were made between the refugees and asylum seekers and local people.“
Donations to the Mary Thompson Fund are via the UNITY TRUST Bank plc, account number 20103929, sort code 08-60-01 or c/o 119-121 Marton Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2DU
Mark Metcalf