A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. Find these stories and all others since 2014 on our searchable database, the Register of Racism and Resistance.

ASYLUM | MIGRATION | BORDERS | CITIZENSHIP

Asylum and migrant rights

25 October: The High Court orders the Home Office to facilitate the re-entry to the UK of spouses abandoned without passports abroad, unable to return and often separated from children. (Guardian, 25 October 2022)

26 October: The Commons Home Affairs Committee hears evidence from Home Office officials that only 4 per cent of asylum claims made by people crossing the Channel last year have been decided. (Independent, 28 October 2022)

27 October: 10,000 Russians living in Poland form a Telegram support group as the Internal Security Agency increasingly rejects residence permit applications. A Gdańsk Bar Association lawyer warns that any suggestion that all Russians are a national security risk ‘violates fundamental human rights’. (Notes from Poland, 27 October 2022)

27 October: At Frankfurt Airport, Germany, a body is found in the landing gear of a plane coming from Iran. (InfoMigrants, 20 October 2022) 

28 October: Italy welcomes 66 Syrian nationals from Beirut and Lebanon through a humanitarian corridor and hosting system provided by a group of churches. (InfoMigrants, 28 October 2022) 

28 October: Home secretary Suella Braverman rejects the findings of the Home Affairs Committee, following a two-year inquiry, that the more than 100,000 backlog in asylum claims is due to ‘poor resourcing…of staff and technology’. (Open Democracy, 28 October 2022)

2 November: In Greece, a campaign is launched to support Wael Haffar Habbal and Kareem Alkabbani, who founded the Syrian and Greek Youth Forum, against a decision to revoke their asylum status on the basis of a classified document, access to which they are denied in an alleged ‘illegal and unconstitutional process’. (Change.org, 2 November 2022) 

3 November: According to the UN, the number of refugees and displaced people worldwide has increased to more than 103 million, with the Russian aggression in Ukraine uprooting 14 million Ukrainians, ‘the fastest, largest displacement witnessed in decades’. (Euronews, 3 November 2022)

6 November: The Home Office National Community Engagement Team, part of immigration enforcement, has over the past three years carried out more than 400 ‘community engagement surgeries’ at temples, mosques, gurdwaras and churches, supposedly to give advice to those with uncertain status – a fourfold rise since 2019. In at least three instances in 2021, people were taken directly to the airport by immigration enforcement. (Independent, 6 November 2022)

Borders and internal controls

25 October: The 14 October decision of the European Council of Ministers is published, in which the Council agreed to intensify police checks of immigration status across the whole of the EU. (Statewatch, 25 October 2022) 

25 October: The Border Violence Monitoring Network details increasing pushbacks and violence by Hungarian guards at the Serbian border, and continuing pushbacks at the Croatian-Bosnian border. (BVMN, 25 October 2022)

26 October: Research by the IPPR concludes that 70 per cent of people crossing the Channel would be successful if their asylum claims were substantively considered rather than declared ‘inadmissible’ because they passed through European countries, and that attempts to remove this group have slowed down asylum decision-making, creating backlogs and costing the Home Office a fortune in detention and accommodation costs. (IPPR, 26 October 2022; Independent, 26 October 2022)

26 October: The EU signs an agreement with North Macedonia to increase the number of Frontex officers at its border, in an attempt to stop migration through the ‘Balkan route’. (Ekathimerini, 27 October 2022)

27 October: The body of a black man, believed to be a Sudanese asylum seeker, is discovered near the river Świsłocz at the Polish border with Belarus. (Wyborcza, 27 October 2022) 

28 October: Prime minister Rishi Sunak and French president Emmanuel Macron agree to deepen the countries’ partnership to make small-boat Channel crossings ‘completely unviable’. (Independent, 28 October 2022)

29 October: It is reported that home secretary Suella Braverman had tasked officials to study the viability of recommendations by the right-wing Policy Exchange think-tank, including expanding the offshoring of ‘genuine’ refugees arriving by small boat to destinations such as Ascension Island. (Observer, 29 October 2022)

31 October: BiD, the Public Law Project and Medical Justice publish Every move you make: the human impact of GPS tagging in immigration system, documenting the harm caused by electronic monitoring. (BiD, 31 October 2022)

31 October: The EU signs an agreement with Egypt for a border management programme to stop people travelling to Europe from Egypt’s northern coast. The EU has already paid €80 million, a quarter of the projected costs. (InfoMigrants, 31 October 2022) 

2 November: Home secretary Suella Braverman announces plans to use X-rays, repeatedly condemned by scientists as unreliable and unsafe, to determine the age of asylum-seeking children. (Independent, 2 November 2022)

2 November: Poland authorises the construction of a triple razor wire barrier along the 210-kilometre border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, claiming that Kaliningrad’s opening up of air flights from the Middle East and Africa could lead to a repeat of the previous migration crisis fomented by the Lukashenko regime on its border with Belarus.  (Euronews, 2 November 2022, Balkan Insight, 2 November 2022)

3 November: In Spain, there are calls for a parliamentary investigation after the BBC broadcasts a documentary which casts doubts on the official version of the deaths in June of at least 23 people at Spain’s Melilla enclave in Morocco. (Spain in English, 3 November 2022) 

6 November: Acting on a directive from the Italian interior minister to select only the ‘vulnerable’, the Sicilian authorities refuse to allow 35 migrants to disembark from Humanity 1 and doctors are drafted in to vet migrants for ‘selective disembarkation’. Three other rescue ships are refused permission to land. (Euronews, 6 November 2022; Al Jazeera, 6 November 2022)

Reception and detention

26 October: Chief Inspector of Borders David Neal tells the Home Affairs Committee that conditions at Manston migrant processing centre in Kent, where over 3,000 people, 150−160 per marquee, sleep on the floor for up to a month, are ‘wretched’. (PA, 26 October 2022)

26 October: A joint investigation by Liberty Investigates and ITV News reveals that 8 babies born in asylum accommodation died before their first birthday, owing to unsafe and dehumanising conditions. (ITV News, 26 October 2022) 

27 October: Immigration minister Robert Jenrick announces that Lt Gen Stuart Skeates, who fought in Afghanistan, has been seconded to set up a ‘command and control’ structure at Manston, where military personnel are being deployed. (Hansard, 27 October 2022)

27 October: Around 60 asylum seekers detained at Manston stage a sit-in protest, which, after a number of hours, is violently broken up by Border Force officials and private security guards. (Morning Star, 28 October 2022)

30 October: A case of MRSA is reported at Manston, along with scabies among children and cases of diphtheria, while it is reported that detainees are referred to by a number on their wristband, not their names. (Guardian, 30 October 2022; Guardian, 30 October 2022)

31 October: After the ISU union says that Manston is ‘catastrophically overcrowded’ and security staff untrained in defusing tension, local Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale suggests a deliberate decision was taken to allow conditions to deteriorate, as a deterrent. (Guardian, 27 October 2022; Guardian, 31 October 2022)

31 October: Clearsprings, a company with a ten-year contract to manage asylum accommodation, saw profits increase six-fold last year, enabling its three directors to share dividends of nearly £28 million, it is reported. (Guardian, 31 October 2022) 

31 October: In Paris, France, police conduct another eviction at the La Chapelle temporary ‘migrant camp’, intimidating volunteers and leaving over 200 people on the street. (Are you Syrious, 1 November 2022) 

1 November: The Chief Inspector of Prisons’ report of an inspection in July of Manston and Western Jet Foil short-term holding centres reveals concerns about exhausted people forced to sleep on floor mats, denial of access to mobile phones and refusal to close toilet doors. He intends to make a ‘swift return’ to ensure detainees are held in ‘safe, decent and humane conditions’. (HM Inspectorate of Prisons, 1 November 2022; Guardian, 1 November 2022) 

1 November: Several hundred asylum seekers are bussed out of Manston processing centre, to unknown destinations, as the POA union leader warns of riots and hunger strikes caused by the conditions and the failure to keep those held there informed. (Kent Online, 2 November 2022; Independent, 2 November 2022)

1 November: Several cases are reported of child asylum seekers claiming officials have pressured them to say they are adults, with promises they will be moved from Manston more quickly, and threats that they will be held there for weeks. (Guardian, 1 November 2022)

3 November: The London mayor calls for an urgent review after 11 asylum seekers from Kent are left on the streets around Victoria station, moved apparently to ease overcrowding at the Manston holding centre. Fifty other asylum seekers are also left stranded in London. Reports suggest that a 13-year-old unaccompanied child was raped after being accommodated in refugee accommodation in east London. (Guardian, 3 November 2022)

3 November: The climate minister concedes on Sky TV that the Manston asylum processing centre is not operating legally as Detention Action start a legal action on behalf of a woman held there. (Guardian, 3 November 2022)

4 November: Home Office contractors at Manston are disciplined after trying to sell drugs to asylum seekers there. Security guards are also reported to have been smoking cannabis on duty. The Home Office says that more than 1,200 people have been moved off the site in four days. (Guardian, 4 November 2022)

5 November: The Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents border staff, joins the legal action brought against the home secretary over conditions at Manston. (Guardian, 5 November 2022)

5 November: A whistle-blower reveals that a Home Office recruitment drive to deal with the backlog of asylum applications involves the hiring of staff from supermarket customer services and sales positions who have no knowledge of the asylum system and are not given comprehensive training. (Guardian, 5 November 2022)

6 November: The government transfers all those detained at Harmondsworth to prisons or other detention centres, following a disturbance (after a power cut) which elite prison units and Met police were used to quell. (Guardian, 6 November 2022).

6 November: Hundreds gather in the rain outside Manston for a demonstration called by Action Against Detention and Deportations, with protesters shouting ‘shut Manston down’ and holding placards reading ‘no one is illegal’. Videos on social media show a family with a small baby waving to protesters from inside the centre. (Guardian, 6 November 2022)

Citizenship

1 November: Following a court ruling, the Dutch government announces a special operation to repatriate 12 women and their 28 children from refugee camps in Syria – the women to be arrested on arrival and their children put in care. (Deutsche Welle, 1 November 2022)

Crimes of solidarity

29 October: In Trapani, Italy, the trial of the crew of the Iuventa search and rescue vessel, charged with ‘aiding and abetting illegal migration’, is once again postponed. The crew, waiting months for the case to begin, accuses the prosecutor’s office of ‘sloppiness and ignorance’. (Are You Syrious?, 1 November 2022)

ELECTORAL POLITICS | GOVERNMENT POLICY

As anti-migrant, anti-equalities, anti-abortion, misogynistic and anti-LGBTQI rhetoric in electoral campaigning are increasingly interlinked, we reflect this in the coverage below which also includes information on the influence of the Christian Right as well as the religious Right generally.

28 October: Rebecka Ädel, deputy leader of the Sweden Democrats in Nynäshamn, resigns after being exposed for writing (under a pseudonym) for the site of the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement. (The Local, 28 October 2022)

29 October: The Finnish prime minister apologises for her government’s failure to pass the Sámi Parliament Act, which would have enshrined the right to self-determination for Sámi. (Euronews, 29 October 2022) 

31 October: A record number of 52 Romani mayors are elected in local and regional elections in Slovakia. (Romea, 31 October 2022)

31 October: Environment minister Mark Spencer is accused of using a ‘crass and archaic’ trope when talking about Chinese people during an interview. The Conservative Party is criticised for not publishing the results of an investigation into Spencer’s previous alleged Islamophobic remarks. (Guardian, 31 October 2022)

1 November: Immigration minister Robert Jenrick is among politicians warning home secretary Suella Braverman to be careful with her language after she referred to a migrant ‘invasion’ days after a petrol bomb attack on a Dover reception centre. (BBC News, 1 November 2022) 

1 November: Two days after a fire-bomb attack on an immigration reception centre, Jonathan Gullis, Conservative MP for Stoke, tells Channel 4 that migrants are ‘coming to the UK for no reason whatsoever’, before naming a hotel in his constituency earmarked to house new arrivals, leading to accusations he was ‘emboldening’ those who seek to harm migrants. (Independent, 1 November 2022)

2 November: In Bulgaria, the far-right Revival Party proposes a law to penalise citizens found to act as ‘foreign agents’. (Balkan Insight, 2 November 2022). 

2 November: After the home secretary refers to ‘Albanian criminals’ in Parliament, the prime minister of Albania, Edi Rami, says the UK government is scapegoating Albanians to excuse policy failures and that it should ‘stop discriminating’. (Guardian, 2 November 2022)

2 November: Following a snap election in Denmark, giving a narrow majority to centre-left parties, the anti-immigrant Danish People’s Party with just 2.6 per cent of the vote (5 seats) is now the smallest party in parliament. Denmark Democrats, a new party that campaigns against immigration and is led by former immigration minister Inger Stojberg, gains 8.1 per cent of the vote and 14 seats. (The Local, 2 November 2022)

2 November: The Austrian interior minister claiming that half of those involved in anti-police ‘riots’ in Linz and other cities were asylum seekers, states that ‘asylum denial procedures’ will be initiated against those involved in an ‘expression of a profoundly anti-democratic attitude towards our constitutional values and attitudes’. (Euractiv, 2 November 2022)

2 November: In the context of a new immigration bill which would simplify appeal procedures in removal cases, French president Emmanuel Macron states on TV that ‘foreigners, either illegal immigrants or waiting for a residence permit’ account for more than half of the crime in Paris; the statistics he quotes refer to arrests. (Le Monde, 2 November 2022; RFI, 2 November 2022)

2 November: 50 Muslim organisations in Leicester sign an open letter criticising the Henry Jackson Society for interfering in Hindu-Muslim relations in the city, singling out Charlotte Littlewood for spreading an allegedly false narrative that Hindus are being forced out of Leicester. (Twitter, 3 November 2022)

3 November: There is uproar in the French National Assembly after far-right National Rally MP Gregoire de Fournas (later suspended) shouts ‘go back to Africa’ at fellow MP Carlos Martens Bilongo, who was speaking about the plight of migrants stranded in the Mediterranean. (Deutsche Welle, 3 November 2022)

6 November: Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab says that a British Bill of Rights, stemming migrant crossings by giving UK courts supremacy over the European Court of Human Rights, will return to parliament ‘in the coming weeks’. The Law Society describes this as ‘lurch backwards for British justice which would disempower people in Britain while giving the state more unfettered authority’. (ITV News, 6 November 2022)

7 November: Senior Conservatives criticise the ‘unworkable’ Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, saying its intention to disappear 2,400 laws overnight is ‘unworkable’. Unison says it turns the clock back on workers’ rights to ‘Dickensian times’. (Guardian 6 November 2022; Guardian, 24 October 2022)

ANTI-FASCISM AND THE FAR RIGHT

With anti-migrant, anti-Muslim, anti-equalities, anti-abortion, misogynistic and anti-LGBTQI activities increasingly interlinking, we now incorporate information on the Christian Right as well as the religious Right generally.

27 October: In Bari, Italy, a 23-year-old white supremacist, said to be linked to US organisation The Base, is arrested on suspicion of terror- and weapons-related offences, incitement to racial hatred and making death threats against senator Liliana Segre, a Holocaust survivor. (Euronews, 27 October 2022)

29 October: Leaks to a German public broadcaster of a classified report (NSU Files, 2014), intended to be kept secret for 120 years, reveal that state intelligence officers in Hesse lost over 500 files and failed to follow up numerous leads on the National Socialist Underground that went on to murder 10 people. (Deutsche Welle, 29 October 2022) 

30 October: Following a neo-Nazi demonstration in Oslo, Norway, 35 neo-Nazis are arrested for failing to comply with a police order, and 31 of them deported to Sweden and Denmark. (Europe Cities, 30 October 2022)

30 October: A man, later identified as Andrew Leak, 66, throws petrol bombs at a new Border Force migrant reception centre in Dover, and then kills himself. Two people receive minor injuries. 700 migrants are relocated to Manston. (Guardian, 30 October 2022)

31 October: In Wales, only hours after its completion, a mural honouring Port Talbot’s Caribbean community is sprayed with swastikas and other Nazi and racist slurs. The ARTWalk group immediately restore the mural. (Herald Wales, October 2022)

1 November: According to Hope Not Hate, the Dover petrol bomb attacker, Andrew Leak, had a history of sharing far-right content from the Traditional Britain Group, Turning Point UK and ACT for America. 165 incidents of activity from far-right and anti-refugee activists at immigration facilities have been recorded by Hope Not Hate this year. (Guardian, 1 November 2022)

Chilling to read about the firebomb suspect's history of sharing racist, far-right content – and his threat that he 'would end illegal immigration in a year'.

This govt and journalists MUST stop creating a climate of hatred towards migrants & refugees.https://t.co/2i7gsqL6d4

— JCWI (@JCWI_UK) November 2, 2022

31 October: The parliamentary opposition in Italy accuses the government of inaction after more than 2,000 fascists respond to a call by Arditi d’Italia and rally in Mussolini’s birth place of Predappio at the family crypt. The anti-fascist ANPI stage a counter demonstration. (Guardian, 27 October; Guardian 31 October 2022) 

1 November: A man is charged with terror-related offences in relation to the killing in July of psychiatrist Ing-Marie Wieselgren at a political festival in Gotland, Sweden, with reports suggesting that Annie Lööf, leader of the Centre Party, was also an intended target. (Euronews, 1 November 2022)

1 November: Schoolchildren at a Lanarkshire secondary school chase a Nazi sympathiser off school grounds after he tries to recruit them. A 20-year-old man is arrested. (Daily Record, 1 November 2022)

2 November: In the Czech Republic, the police launch an investigation after Jiří Kajínek, previously convicted of murder and then pardoned, makes an appearance in Plzeň at the launch of an album by the xenophobic group Ortel brandishing a submachine gun. (Romea, 2 November 2022)

7 November: Afro-Caribbean and Polynesian troops protest and a military investigation is launched after revelations of a soldiers’ WhatsApp group with a profile picture of a clenched white fist at the Hereford HQ of the Special Air Service. Soldiers used an acronym of the US National Socialist Order in racist messaging. (Daily Mail, 7 November 2022)

POLICING | PRISONS | CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

27 October: A Merseyside police officer resigns prior to a misconduct hearing after yelling racist messages towards a Black person on TV and sending the recording by accident to a colleague. (Metro, 27 October 2022)

29 October: The grieving families of Chris Kaba and Oladeji Omishore join the 26th annual United Families and Friends demonstration in London, where Kaba’s cousin, who has seen the police footage, says that the police’s claim that there was a ‘chase’ before the shooting is false. (Guardian, 29 October 2022; Independent, 30 October 2022)

30 October: An investigation is launched after Yassine S. dies in an isolation cell at Leuven prison, Belgium, with allegations from fellow inmates that he was denied medical attention. (De Wereld Morgen, 2 November 2022)

31 October: As the London Mayor’s office releases its study of the Gangs Matrix, the Metropolitan police commissioner Mark Rowley removes around 1,100 ‘lowest risk’ individuals from the Matrix and announces that it will be redesigned, taking into account improvements in statistical methods and technologies. (Guardian, 31 October 2022)

1 November: Two days after the petrol bomb attack on the Dover immigration centre, counter-terrorism police take over the investigation. (Guardian, 1 November 2022; Hope Not Hate, 1 November 2022)

2 November: An Inspectorate report, commissioned after the death of Sarah Everard, finds that defective vetting and failures by police leaders in eight forces, including the Met, the Civic Nuclear Constabulary and Kent, has allowed a predatory and misogynistic culture towards women, serious sexual assaults and abuse of power to develop within the police. (Guardian, 2 November 2022)

2 November: An inquest in West Yorkshire finds that Huddersfield man Yassar Yaqub was lawfully killed by the police in 2017 on the M62. (Guardian, 2 November 2022) 

4 November: The Independent Office for Police Conduct launches two investigations into 9 police officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary accused of using racist, misogynistic, ableist and other offensive and discriminatory language while on duty. (Guardian, 4 November 2022) 

8 November: A survey finds that more than half of Black people stopped and searched by the police say they have feelings of humiliation or embarrassment. This comes at a time where trust of police among Black Londoners is, at 42 per cent – lower than the national average. (Guardian, 8 November 2022)

EDUCATION

27 October: The EHRC issues guidelines against ‘hair discrimination’, which disproportionately affects people with afro hair or protective styles, also stating that school uniform policies that ban certain hairstyles, without the possibility for exceptions on racial grounds, are likely to be unlawful. (Guardian, 27 October 2022)

30 October: Students at Cambridge University criticise the Faculty of Philosophy for hiring ‘early career fellow’ Nathan Cofnas, who has argued that there are intrinsic differences between races when it comes to intelligence. (Daily Mail, October 2022)

31 October: A Norwegian Institute of International Affairs study of ethical and security challenges in research collaboration suggests that scholars from China, Iran and Russia feel ‘subjected to discriminatory treatment’ and that staff should be protected from ‘suspicion and negative attention’ relating to nationality. (Times Higher Education, 31 October 2022)

7 November: 12 mathematicians, eight of whom are fellows of the Royal Society, write to the Quality Assurance Agency, warning that mathematics degrees in the UK are being ‘unnecessarily politicised’ because of expectations that lecturers decolonise the curriculum. (Times Higher Education, 7 November 2022)

CULTURE | MEDIA | SPORT

While we cannot cover all incidents of racist abuse on sportspersons or their responses, we provide a summary of the most important incidents. For more information follow Kick it Out.

29 October: After Twitter’s takeover by Elon Musk, previously banned far-right figures open new accounts, with Britain First, banned in 2017, publishing a series of anti-immigrant videos in the first 24 hours. (Guardian, 29 October 2022)

29 October: The Telegraph criticises the Free Black University, a higher education project for Black students in Britain, on the grounds that it is not an officially recognised university. Right-wing channel GB News subsequently runs an item accusing FBU of racism in course content and admission policies. (Telegraph, 29 October 2022)

31 October: The National Trust accuses the Restore Trust of trolling staff, targeting older members and promoting ‘anti-woke’ candidates for its governing body which will be decided at an AGM later this year. (Guardian, 31 October 2022)

25 October: In evidence to the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, the head of Kick It Out criticises the treatment of Azeem Rafiq by the cricket establishment. (Evening Standard, 26 October 2022) 

31 October: The BBC’s World At One is criticised for interviewing Nigel Farage to discuss the firebomb attack on the Border Force migrant centre in Dover. (London Economic, 2 November 2022)

31 October: Cricket Scotland is to investigate 43 allegations of racism against 27 people following an update of complaints received to Cricket Scotland which, in turn, follows an independent review which concluded that the governance and leadership of the sport was institutionally racist. (BBC News, 31 October 2022) 

2 November: Azeem Rafiq’s hearing on the racism he faced at Yorkshire cricket club will be held in public after a request from Rafiq’s legal team to the Cricket Disciplinary Commission for transparency. (Guardian, 2 November 2022)

3 November: Research from SumOfUs and Global Witness finds that Meta is failing to block Facebook ads containing extreme hate speech and disinformation in Norway. (Global Witness, 3 November 2022)

3 November: Just days after the petrol bomb attack on a migrant reception centre in Dover, the Spectator publishes an image of a ‘tidal wave’ of what appears to be brown and Muslim migrants at the white cliffs of Dover. (The Spectator, 3 November 2022)

6 November: All seven candidates for council posts at the National Trust put forward by the ‘anti-woke’ Restore Trust are defeated at the Trust’s AGM, which has one of its largest ever turnouts. (Guardian, 6 November 2022)

8 November: A spectator at a Belgian youth football fixture who called an 8-year-old player from KVK Wellen a ‘black monkey’ is banned from attending matches at Bocholt VV until the New Year. The KVK Wellen trainer took his players off the pitch in protest. (Nieuwsblad, 8 November 2022) 

8 November: The French newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné is criticised for racism and Islamophobia after it publishes a cartoon depicting Qatari footballers as terrorists. (Al Jazeera, 8 November 2022)

RACIAL VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT

For details of court judgements on racially motivated and other hate crimes, see also POLICING | PRISONS | CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.

24 October: A 53-year-old woman from Glasgow is convicted of a racially aggravated public order offence after using racially offensive language on a train. Lancashire Magistrates’ Court orders her to pay a total of £188 in court charges. (Lancashire Post, 24 October 2022)

25 October: A woman sustains a knee injury after being subjected to a racially aggravated assault outside a shop in Salisbury. Wiltshire Police are yet to identify the female aggressor. (Salisbury Journal, 31 October 2022)

27 October: A 15-year-old boy is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with the stabbing of a person believed to be an asylum seeker outside an asylum hostel on 22 October. (Independent, 27 October 2022) 

28 October: A 39-year-old man, spared jail at the victim’s request, admits racially aggravated assault causing actual bodily harm to a woman outside a nightclub in Bradford in 2020 and is sentenced to 18 months imprisonment suspended, 140 hours of unpaid work and a £149 court surcharge. (Telegraph & Argus, 31 October 2022)

28 October: A former hotel near Dresden, eastern Germany, is the target of an arson attack a week before its opening as accommodation for refugee families from Afghanistan, Syria and Russia. It was similarly targeted in 2016. (ABC News, 28 October 2022)

3 November: A woman in her 40s is hit several times in the face and racially abused by two members of a group of 12−13-year-olds on Odstock Road in Salisbury. (Salisbury Journal, 4 November 2022)

6 November: A 39-year-old woman and 51-year-old man are found guilty of numerous counts of theft, threats of violence and racial abuse committed against staff members in various shops in Castleford and Halton on 23 May and 14 June. Leeds Crown Court sentences both to 27 months in prison. (Yorkshire Evening Post, 6 November 2022)

6 November: A 27-year-old woman from Stockport is racially abused and assaulted by two unidentified men while eating at a McDonald’s restaurant. After intervening in one of the men’s racist abuse of a security guard, she is subjected to slurs by one man and hit in the face and knocked over by the other. Her male friend is also slapped and called a homophobic slur after confronting one of the aggressors. (Manchester Evening News, 6 November 2022)

The calendar was compiled with the help of Graeme Atkinson, Sira Thiam, Sophie Chauhan and Joseph Maggs. Thanks also to ECRE, the Never Again Association and Stopwatch, whose regular updates on asylum, migration, far-Right, racial violence and policing issues are an invaluable source of information. Find these stories and all others since 2014 on our searchable database, the Register of Racism and Resistance.