Protest over ‘illegal immigrants’ at hotel condemned
CHESHIRE Race & Equality Centre has condemned a far right protest outside a Cheshire hotel where it was claimed ‘illegal immigrants’ were being housed at the expense of British war veterans.
The Weekly News understands more than 200 mainly young male asylum seekers are being looked after at the Daresbury Park Hotel where the demonstration was held by the For Britain party.
It comes in a week when a 16-yearold boy from Sudan tragically drowned while trying to cross the Channel in a dinghy from France.
Cheshire, Halton & Warrington Race and Equality Centre said a press release issued before the stunt was ‘deliberately designed to instil fear and alarm and create division within British society’.
For Britain leader Anne Marie Waters told a reporter: “We’re here today because this is scandalous. People are coming into our country illegally. That’s the crucial point. They’re being removed from the English Channel by the border force and put in four-star hotels that our own people can’t afford to stay in. Meanwhile, 13,000 British veterans are sleeping on the streets. The country is sickened by this. I’m sickened by this. It’s not right it’s not fair.”
Ms Waters described as ‘absurd’ the accusation her party’s Secure Our Borders campaign was motivated by racism saying it was a ‘matter of practicalities’.
Born and raised in Dublin, Ms Waters insisted she herself was not an immigrant to the UK.
“If you understand the laws, the Ireland Act means Irish are not immigrants. But even if I was, it doesn’t stand to reason that because some people moved here, that the whole world can move here.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The UK has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with temporary accommodation and support whilst their application for asylum is being considered.
“In response to the unprecedented public health emergency, the Home Office has had to house a number of asylum seekers in hotels as a temporary measure.
“These are kept under review in line with public health guidance and we are working with local authorities across the UK secure suitable longer term accommodation.”
Cheshire, Halton & Warrington Race and Equality Centre has described a press release issued before the protest as a ‘thinly veiled anti Islamic press statement’.
The statement referred to the large proportion of young males, ‘nearly all military age’, with the insinuation some may be terrorists and that they had left women, children and the old ‘to the fate of the despotic systems they were ‘escaping’ from’.
Centre director Shantele Sutherland responded: “We are saddened to hear of the protests outside of the Daresbury hotel – the information that Secure Our Borders has released about why the protest is going ahead is based on untruths, myths and stereotypes that are deliberately designed to instil fear and alarm and create division within British society. Worryingly there is a clear anti-Islamic rhetoric which pervades their statement.
“It needs to be made clear that the people housed in initial accommodation are not ‘illegal immigrants’, they are people seeking asylum which is a process enshrined in law while they are waiting for a decision on whether they meet the requirements to be a refugee. Secure Our Borders make many assumptions about the reasons for their claims, but essentially all asylum claims are based on fleeing persecution, a stringent test which is enforced by the Home Office and the court processes.
“Another point made was that they are mainly men and a suggestion that they are ‘lacking character’ by leaving women and children behind. It is interesting that they refer to the ‘function’ of a man being to protect women and children – a rather outdated and stereotypical view, yet later makes reference to other cultural practices being at odds with British norms giving as an example ‘not viewing women and men as equals’.
“I would point out though that many of the ‘men’ they refer to are actually boys of under 18 years old; boys and men are often most at risk of a violent regime, at risk of being recruited by different factions, at risk of being forcibly recruited by the army. They are also often the ones most able to make the journey away from home. Longer term they are the ones who can earn money to send home and make their families safe.”