A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe.
Asylum and migration
12 November: Local council leaders criticise the government for failing to place young refugee children with them despite a national transfer scheme being in place. (Guardian, 12 November 2016)
14 November: Three 16-year-old Afghan asylum seekers begin a hunger strike in France in a protest against the slow processing of their applications to join families in the UK. (Guardian, 15 November 2016)
15 November: Croydon Crown Court is told that Scott Webster, a former G4S guard, allegedly repeatedly raped a woman over two years at an unnamed asylum detention centre and used restraint holds learnt during training. (Local Guardian, 15 November 2016)
16 November: The Supreme Court dismisses deportation appeals by foreign national offenders who argued that their family life prevented deportation, in a test case on the new rules. (Free Movement, 16 November 2016)
18 November: The Home Office publishes strict criteria for admission to the UK under the Dubs amendment of unaccompanied children dispersed from the Calais camps. (ECRE, 18 November 2016)
19 November: Some of the unaccompanied minors dispersed from Calais to ‘welcome centres’ across France claim they have been forced into unpaid work, including picking fruit for French supermarkets. (Observer, 20 November 2016)
21 November: The High Court orders the release of asylum seekers detained by the Home Office despite being victims of torture, under a new policy which only bans detention of victims of state torture. (Guardian, 22 November 2016)
21 November: A Brighton & Hove councillor raises concerns over the arrest, in a joint operation by Sussex police and the Home Office, and impending deportation of eight people, all from Europe who had been sleeping rough. (The Argus, 21 November 2016)
23 November: A mouse infestation in the kitchens at Harmondsworth detention centre results in the centre being given a zero hygiene rating. (This is Local London, 23 November 2016)
Violence and harassment
7 November: Newcastle man, John Anthony White, is jailed for 30 weeks after an incident days after the Brexit vote at Newcastle train station, in which he attacked a taxi driver who intervened after White was racially abusive and spat at a customer. (ITV, 16 November 2016)
10 November: Five teenagers aged 15-17 are charged in connection with a racist attack on a disabled man in Springburn, Glasgow, after they allegedly threw fireworks and racially abused their Zimbabwean victim. (Daily Record, 10 November 2016)
14 November: A Chiswick school which holds regular fundraising car boot sales is found to have stalls selling Nazi memorabilia. (Guardian, 14 November 2016)
14 November: A pastor is racially abused and punched until he was almost unconscious in an unprovoked racist attack in Cheltenham, initiated by a man who kicked his car. (Gloucester Live, 16 November 2016)
15 November: Avon & Somerset Police appeal for information about a racist attack on 6 September when two Russian men standing outside a Polish shop in Taunton were attacked and then chased by three white men. (This is the West Country, 15 November 2016)
19 November: Chelsea supporter Fabien Richardson is given a three-year football banning order and fined £365 after making 13 Nazi salutes in 15 minutes at a Spurs match. Chelsea has already suspended his season ticket. (Daily Mirror, 10 November 2016)
21 November: A 15-year-old boy on bail on suspicion of the murder of Polish man, Arkadiusz Józwik, in Essex in September, is rebailed until 1 December pending a decision to prosecute. (Essex Live, 21 November 2016)
Policing & criminal justice
14 November: HM Inspectorate of Prisons publishes a report: Children in Custody 2015–16: An analysis of 12–18-year-olds’ perceptions of their experiences in secure training centres and young offender institutions, download it here.
15 November: The Independent Police Complaints Commission publishes: Police Complaints Statistics for England and Wales 2015/16, download them here.
16 November: David Lammy publishes an investigation into the overrepresentation in the criminal justice system of people from BAME communities, who are more likely to be jailed for certain crimes, and four times more likely to be sent to prison. Download the report: Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic disproportionality in the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales, here. (Guardian, 16 November 2016)
16 November: The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on: ‘Associations between ethnic background and being sentenced to prison in the Crown Court in England and Wales in 2015’, download them here.
16 November: According to a survey from the Legal Services Consumer Panel, people from BAME communities are less likely to trust their lawyer and are more likely than white British people to need advice on immigration, benefits, employment disputes and housing problems. Download the survey here (pdf file, 855kb).
19 November: Hundreds of fans and footballers join family, friends and colleagues at the funeral of Dalian Atkinson, the 48-year-old former Aston Villa striker who died in August after being tasered by Telford police. (Birmingham Mail, 19 November 2016)
24 November: A man claiming he was arrested after the 2011 Birmingham riots because he was black wins an out-of-court payment from West Midlands police. Emmanuel Prophet, who said he was in bed when police forced entry into his home on 16 August that year, claimed wrongful arrest and assault. (BBC News, 24 November 2016)
Far Right
11 November: The election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States is described by the extreme Right, from the Front National, Golden Dawn, and the Party of Freedom to Alternative for Germany, as a ‘historic victory’ and proof of the ‘great global change that is starting’. Nigel Farage described 2016 as the ‘year of two revolutions’. (Vice News, 11 November 2016)
14 November: More than 600 members of the Nordic Resistance Movement march to the Swedish parliament in Stockholm in support of Donald Trump and the ‘world revolution’ which is ‘just beginning’. (Independent, 14 November 2016)
16 November: Ten Asian men are acquitted of violent disorder after defending themselves against members of a far-right group who attacked an anti-racist protest in Rotherham. (Guardian, 16 November 2016)
16 November: Twelve neo-nazis connected with the paramilitary Magyar Arcvonal movement are detained following the seizure of firearms, sub-machine guns and explosives during police raids in Budapest and northwest Hungary. (AFP, 16 November 2016)
18 November: Amnesty International criticises the ‘culture of impunity’ on the Greek island of Chios, as refugees at Souda camp are driven from their tents by far-right extremists who, over two nights, launch petrol bombs and throw boulders down onto the camp from the surrounding heights, resulting in at least two people injured and tents burned down. (Amnesty International, Guardian, 18 November 2016)
23 November: Thomas Mair is convicted of murdering Jo Cox MP earlier this year and sentenced to a whole-life term. During the trial, the jury heard that Nazi-related material was found at his home, including a Third Reich statue of an eagle as well as numerous books and cuttings. (BBC News, 21 November 2016, Guardian, 23 November 2016)
23 November: The BNP’s only remaining councillor quits the party, intending to sit as an independent. Brian Parker represents Marsden ward on Pendle Borough Council in Lancashire. (BBC News, 23 November 2016)
23 November: A jury retires to consider its verdict in the case of a Nottingham man accused of stockpiling explosive substances to defend the UK against an attack by Islamic extremists. Roger Smith claims he had gunpowder and other chemicals used to make explosives for cleaning and to conduct science experiments. His defence barrister claims his actions were not that of an ‘Islamophobic madman’. (BBC News, 23 November 2016)
Education
November: A survey of teachers and others working in schools and colleges in England is being conducted by academics at Coventry and Huddersfield, to explore educationalists’ experiences of Prevent. The survey can be completed here.
14 November: A teaching assistant who lost her job after raising concerns about a video of 9/11 being played to young children refuses compensation from the Birmingham school and vows to take her case to court. (Guardian, 14 November 2016)
16 November: The government scraps plans to collect immigration data on 2-5-year-olds following a public campaign, but says it will continue with the scheme for school-age children. (Independent, 17 November 2016)
19 November: New research by the British Youth Council finds that racial discrimination is being covered up by schools in order to protect Ofsted ratings, with incidents of racist and religious taunting being too readily dismissed as ‘banter’. Download the report here (pdf file, 1.6mb). (Independent, 19 November 2016)
21 November: Langton Grammar in Canterbury cancels a talk due to be given by Milo Yiannopoulos, a former pupil, Donald Trump supporter and member of the ‘alt-right’ movement, citing safety concerns. (Guardian, 21 November 2016)
Media
12 November: Danish company Lego ends its promotional giveaways in conjunction with the Daily Mail after receiving correspondence from concerned parents and a campaign by Stop Funding Hate. (Guardian, 12 November 2016)
16 November: Donald Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon, executive chair of Breitbart News, tells French journalists that ‘France is the place to be, with its young entrepreneurs and women of the Le Pen family.’ The company plans to expand into France to support Marine Le Pen’s presidential bid. (The Local, 15 November 2016, Vice News, 16 November 2016)
17 November: Students at City, University of London, home to a prestigious journalism school, vote to ban the Sun, Daily Mail and Express from campus because of those papers’ demonisation of refugees and minorities. (Guardian, 19 November 2016)
Health
21 November: A senior Department of Health (DoH) official tells MPs the DoH is considering requiring all non-emergency hospital patients to show passports before receiving treatment, and reveals that hospitals in Peterborough have demanded passports to check eligibility for treatment for three years. Doctors threaten to boycott the checks. (Guardian, 22 November 2016)
National security
11 November: The Home Office confirms that following a secret review, the controversial Prevent counter-radicalisation programme is to be intensified, despite public and professional objections. (Guardian, 11 November 2016)
Government policy
16 November: The Foreign Office announces that Chagos Islanders, expelled in the 1960s to make way for US military bases, will not be allowed to return to their homes, in a decision described as shameful by former diplomats. Around 1,500 Chagossians have fought for the right to return for decades through the courts, and a spokesperson said they would continue the fight. (Guardian, 16 November 2016)
Discrimination
12 November: Nearly two hundred protesters are arrested by Dutch police in Rotterdam, following the arrival of ‘Zwarte Piet’, Santa Claus’ ‘blacked-up’ helper, at the harbour of Maassluis (Dutch News, 14 November 2016)
20 November: Sisters Uncut hold demonstrations in cities across the UK in protest against cuts to services for BAME domestic violence survivors. (Dazed, 20 November 2016)
Party politics
17 November: According to the Guardian, Ukip is to be asked to repay £148,000 in misspent funds for breaking European rules that ban spending EU money on national election campaigns and referendums. (Guardian, 17 November 2016)
22 November: Ministers reject president-elect Trump’s call for Ukip leader Nigel Farage to become the UK’s ambassador to the US. Farage was the first British politician to visit Trump following his election. (Guardian, 23 November 2016)