A Nigerian street vendor was shot dead following a police identity check in an open-air market in Warsaw. But is anyone asking the right questions? On 23 May 2010, Maxwell Itoya died in Warsaw after being shot by police in, as yet, unexplained circumstances. Itoya, a 36-year-old Nigerian, had lived in Poland for eight years.
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Threatened closure spells disaster for refugees
Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ), the largest UK legal charity offering free advice and representation to asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants, is facing the real possibility of closure because of huge delays in payments for the work its lawyers do. Its closure would mean that the 10,000 or so asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants
Defend the remaining travelling Gypsies and Travellers, and Showmen
Below we reproduce a letter signed by campaigners and academics in protest at proposed funding cuts aimed at the Gypsy and Traveller communities. The coalition government has arrived with a progressive and civil liberties agenda. But not for the UK’s most deprived and discriminated against minority ethnic group – Gypsies and Travellers. Already the coalition
From Barking to Aberdeenshire
A renowned educationalist critiques recent Citizenship Foundation guidance for teachers on dealing with the BNP and other radical groups in schools. Speaking in parliament in November 2006, the secretary of state for education and skills, Alan Johnson, described Community Cohesion (which all schools in Britain have a legal responsibility to promote) in the following words:
The moving right show … again
A member of the South Yorkshire Migration and Action Group analyses how racist assumptions have been embedded by Labour politicians. The general election campaign focused on the big ‘I’ – immigration; but the underlying ‘common sense racism’ of media and political debate framed much of the public arguments. The political world after the election is
Harmondsworth expansion adds to risk
According to HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMCIP) Dame Anne Owers’ latest critical report, small improvements at Harmondsworth immigration removal centre (IRC) will be jeopardised by the opening of new prison-like accommodation there. Harmondsworth was the first immigration detention centre, where inmates were held in Victorian prison-like accommodation. It became a byword for brutality and
Congo Support Project funding appeal
The Congo Support Project is struggling to secure funding for its vital services. After recent grant applications were rejected, money for the everyday running of the Project, which provides a voice for the Congolese community in Britain, has become extremely tight, and there are increasing concerns about the possibility of continuing to offer the services
Families speak out
Families and campaigners gathered in Leicester on 15 May to pay tribute to those that had died in custody. At a meeting organised by the 4WardEver Campaign in association with the Friends of Mikey Powell Campaign for Justice, Habib Ullah Campaign and the Leicester Civil Rights Movement, there was no mistaking the serious issues being
How good is the good news on child detention?
The heralded end to the detention of children in centres like Yarl’s Wood has to be treated with caution. The immediate ending of children’s detention in Scotland, announced as part of the coalition deal on 15 May 2010, has not resulted in the release of children. Instead, families with children, including Pakistani victim of domestic
How good is the good news on child detention?
The heralded end to the detention of children in centres like Yarl’s Wood has to be treated with caution. The immediate ending of children’s detention in Scotland, announced as part of the coalition deal on 15 May 2010, has not resulted in the release of children. Instead, families with children, including Pakistani victim of domestic