Pressure is mounting on Bolton Council, from national and local organisations, not to force an asylum-seeking family into homelessness and take their children into care under new government measures. In the first test of new legislation, which provides for the withdrawal of all support from ‘failed’ asylum-seeking families, the Sukula family lost their appeal at
Issue: Briefing Papers - Europe
Asylum-seeking children face being separated from their parents and placed in care under new powers
A family in Bolton, whose campaign to stay in Britain has won strong local support, is one of the first to face new powers to separate asylum-seeking children from their parents. Powers introduced under last year’s Asylum Act, which allow the Home Office to cut off support to families with children whose asylum claims have
Primary school children rally to save their friends from deportation
St John’s RC Primary School, Rochdale, is to hold a rally today as part of its campaign to prevent the deportation of seven asylum-seeking children and their families. School children will join a procession along the streets of Rochdale to a local church, where a mass will be held in support of children’s rights. Children
15-year-old Daniel launches anti-deportation campaign
Daniel Sukula wrote to IRR News earlier this year to tell us of his fears of being deported to Congo. Now he asks readers to support his anti-deportation campaign. ‘My name is Daniel and I am 15 years old’, begins his letter. ‘I am writing this because me and my family face deportation to Congo.
Solidarity meeting galvanises support
Hundreds of people attended a meeting in Manchester last weekend to learn how to help build support for asylum seekers. ‘I GOT PASSPORT!’ was the text message I received on Monday. The Congolese man who sent it had just won his campaign to stay in the UK. He was one of 225 people from all
Alem’s story
A school explores contradictions in attitudes to asylum seekers using video art. How would secondary school students react to finding out that one of their school friends was to be deported? And how would this help them reassess their beliefs about racism, belonging and asylum? As a Greater Manchester secondary teacher, I have been working
Who votes BNP?
New research into how people voted in local government by-elections in autmumn 2003 shatters some of the myths about who votes for the BNP. The British National Party (BNP) has fifteen councillors. Though not a large number in itself, it demonstrates that in certain parts of England, significant sections of the population are willing to
Destitute Iranian dies after suicide protest at refugee charity
Yet another asylum seeker has taken his own life after suffering misery at the hands of the British asylum system. Israfil Shiri had been thrown out of his Salford council flat and been denied benefits, under the government’s tough new rules. He set himself alight last week in the offices of Refugee Action in Manchester
Oldham: Asian boy left unconscious after racist attack
A 16-year-old boy was left with a fractured skull after being attacked and racially abused by a group of teenagers in Chadderton this week. The Asian teenager was smashed on the head with a blunt object and knocked unconscious after being chased along Garforth Street by a gang of youths on Saturday. He received treatment
Nine months for white racist thugs who sparked the Oldham riots
A mob of football hooligans and neo-Nazis who terrorised the Asian community of Glodwick, Oldham, in May 2001, were cheered as ‘heroes’ by their supporters in the gallery of a Manchester court this week, as they heard that they had been sentenced to just nine months imprisonment. Following the sentencing of the so-called ‘Oldham 12’