Send me back to Iran, I’m fed up with Manchester
An Iranian man walked into a British police station demanding to be deported because he was fed up with living in Manchester. Arash Aria, 25, was “angry” when he told officers he had been living illegally in the city for a decade. But he was sent on his way when officers found he was here entirely legally.
AN IRANIAN man walked into a British police station demanding to be deported because he was fed up with living in Manchester.
Arash Aria, 25, was described as “agitated and angry” when he told officers he had been living illegally in the city for a decade.
But all was not what it seemed, because when officers from Manchester’s city centre police station contacted the Home Office to check Mr Aria’s status they found he was actually in the country entirely legally.
Having arrested him on suspicion of unlawfully entering Britain, they had no option but to “de-arrest” Mr Aria, who lives in a tower block in central Manchester, and send him on his way. Last night Mr Aria told The Daily Telegraph he had been left disillusioned with life in Britain by local people’s rudeness and his failure to find work.
“The people of Manchester have not been welcoming,” he said. “It’s words, violence, many things.
“I try to ignore people but I’m fed up now. I don’t get the respect I should here. People are not friendly here in Manchester. When they are rude to me, I don’t like it.
“Particularly in the last year it’s got really bad,” said Mr Aria, who was dressed in black tracksuit bottoms and a black tee-shirt with a silver pendant on a long chain.
“I try to be friendly and polite. But they just laugh at me because I am foreign and look at me strangely.
“I am not working right now. I used to work as a waiter and a barman but now people won’t give me shifts – for no reason. It’s affecting my head, my dreams and the way I think.
“I am on benefits but I don’t want that. I am in full health, I want to work. Everyone wants to work, to have a dream but I can’t achieve my dreams here. I want to try and do something with my life. I want to get a good job, save money and do something big – be somebody.”
Mr Aria said he was in limbo after sending documents to the Home Office, while his Iranian passport had expired. “I want to go back to my city, Shiraz, in south-west Iran. My aunt and my family will look after me there because my mother will stay here in England,” he said.
“I am just waiting for my passport to come through and then I will book my flights and start my life out there.”
Detective Sergeant David Henshall was on duty at the time of the original incident and described developments on an official Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Twitter account.
He said Mr Aria began “shouting and screaming” at the police front desk. “It was a strange case, that’s why I tweeted about it, considering everything that’s going on with the refugees at the moment,” Det Sgt Henshall said.
“I got a call from the staff downstairs at the front desk who said he was being aggressive and throwing his bike around so I went down to help. He was very angry and just kept saying how much he hated Manchester.”
Mr Aria is understood to have been locked in the cells for several hours for a suspected breach of the peace before his release.
A Home Office source confirmed that Mr Aria has indefinite leave to remain in Britain and has all required visas.
A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in London said he could now be offered consular assistance to return to Iran. He may even be able to secure financial help with transport costs.
“We have not been informed about this case but if the man concerned is a citizen of Iran we will be able to make sure he is issued with a valid passport,” said the spokesman, who declined to be named.
“We will be able to ensure he is able to return to our country. We may be able to offer financial assistance to allow him to return to Iran.”
‘The people of Manchester have not been welcoming. It’s words, violence, many things. I’m fed up now’