The impoverished parents of an Iraqi man, who died trying to enter Britain in 2001, have appealed to the British public to help raise £3,100 – the cost of sending the body from a Kent mortuary, where it has been left for the last three years, to Iraq for burial. (ADDENDUM, 8 SEPT 2004: The
Issue: Briefing Papers & Reports - UK
Alliance to fight anti-Gypsy racism
Two weeks after the CPS announced that it would not prosecute a Sussex bonfire society for burning a caravan bearing effigies of a Gypsy family and the number plate ‘P1KEY’, activists have decided to form their own Gypsy Bonfire Society to inform people about anti-Gypsy racism. Twelve members of the Firle Bonfire Society were arrested
Pressure grows on Gypsy site after BNP elected
Gypsies at the Payne’s Lane site are being threatened with prison by Epping Forest District Council if they do not leave. Three BNP councillors were recently elected promising to evict Gypsies. Harry and Linda Smith are the only remaining Gypsies at the Payne’s Lane site on the edge of the Lea Valley Park. Harry has
What happens to those who die on Britain’s borders?
The body of an Iraqi would-be asylum seeker who died trying to enter Britain in 2001 has been left in a mortuary for almost three years because there are no funds to pay for its return. Omid Jamil Ali was born to a poor family in rural Kurdistan in 1980. Like many others, his family
Racist murder in Ashford, Kent
Two White men have been charged with the murder of Bapishankar Kathirgamanathan, a 24-year-old Sri Lankan-born restaurant worker. Kathirgamanathan had been walking home across a footbridge, on 22 April 2004, when he was assaulted in what police are regarding as a racially-motivated attack. During the attack, Kathirgamanathan sustained severe head injuries and died two weeks
Yarl’s Wood update: officer sacked
A security officer at Yarl’s Wood detention centre has been sacked following revelations of racist bullying, exposed by an undercover reporter in December 2003. Following an investigation by the Daily Mirror last year, which documented racist language, a culture of violence in training sessions and staff boasting of their brutal treatment of detainees, three security
Research finds racism against overseas teachers
New research into the training of overseas teachers reports that they are often unprepared for the racism they face and that school staff do not do enough to counter pupil prejudice and develop an equality ethos within schools. Because of teacher shortages in the UK, recruitment of teachers is taking place in Western and Eastern
What happened to my son?
‘I sent him to the airport; he was so excited! It will be his first time living apart from us. I am proud of him and the next time we meet he will be a man!’ – Mr Lee was thinking as he saw his son, Lee Kyung Woon (also known as Michael), off to
Home Office caves in to populist anti-asylum movement
The populist movement against asylum seekers scored another victory this week, as the Home Office abandoned plans to build induction centres in Sittingbourne and Saltdean. Sittingbourne, Kent, has been the scene of a strong local campaign opposed to government plans to convert the Coniston Hotel into an induction centre for 111 asylum seekers. The protests,
Yarl’s Wood, one year on
Today is not only Valentine’s Day, but also the day, one year ago, that Yarl’s Wood Immigration Detention Centre, the government’s flagship, was burnt, almost to the ground. The government’s asylum policy of ‘faster, firmer, fairer’ was dealt a severe blow. Now, the victims of British asylum policy, those asylum seekers who were locked up