On Wednesday 14 September, 26-year-old Edmore Ngwenya, a Zimbabwean asylum seeker jumped into a canal in Manchester. The following day, Manuel Bravo, an Angolan who was detained in Yarl’s Wood with his 13-year-old son, was found hanged in a stairwell on the morning of his 35th birthday. According to the Independent, which ran the story
Theme: Health
Yet another Black death in the Met’s custody
Paul Coker, 32, died on 6 August 2005 in a police cell in Plumstead, South east London, just two hours after being arrested for causing a breach of the peace. It was reported to the Coker family that Paul had been restrained by police officers but an initial post mortem was inconclusive as to the
Racial violence after 7 July – week 10
Incidents of racial violence and harrasment in this, the tenth week since the London bombings. 15 September 2005: Glasgow Herald reports that a Methodist church in Edinburgh has been targeted by racists because the church enjoys a ‘close relationship’ with a local mosque. Defaced Islamic literature was pushed through the letterbox and racist graffiti was
Excluded Black pupils need more support
If school exclusions are not to blight the futures of African-Caribbean young people, strong local support has to be provided. According to a report by leading educationalists, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, African-Caribbean young people who are permanently excluded from school at some point in their lives, can easily drift into crime. And exclusion
Racial Justice Sunday supports Dale Farm Travellers
Dale Farm residents, who face the bulldozing of their homes by a Tory council, led a procession through St Paul’s Cathedral on 11 September, marking London’s 10th Racial Justice Sunday. Flanked by Polish, Czech and Bulgarian Roma, along with members of the Peace & Progress Party, Dale Farm chairman Richard Sheridan told a rally outside
Round-up of racial violence
The Institute of Race Relations’ research over the nine weeks since the London bombings shows that racially motivated attacks are a daily occurrence and many appear, through the use of offensive language, to be a consequence of the bombings. Though much of the harassment has been ‘low-level’, the effects of such sustained and targeted attacks
Round-up of racial violence
Eight weeks after the London bombings racial violence attacks are still on the rise. 31 August 2005: BBC News reports that international students at Nottingham University are scared to go out after Om Prakass Malik suffers serious facial injuries in an attack by two White men shouting racist abuse. (BBC News 31.8.05) 30 August 2005:
New report documents the toll of destitution faced by Eritrean asylum seekers
Asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa have been the focus of recent press scare-mongering after three of the suspects in the attempted bombings in London on 21 July were revealed to be refugees from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. Now a new report, available to download from IRR News, sheds light on the reality of
The racist backlash goes on…
In the seven weeks after the London bombings the racist backlash against has continued. 21 August 2005: Racists graffiti is painted all over the Daud Tandoori in Llandudno, just days after windows at the restaurant were smashed and paint thrown at the building. (Wales Daily Post 24.8.05) 21 August 2005: Newcastle Sunday Sun reports that
Student campaign leads to stay on deportation
A coalition of students and anti-deportation campaigners have rallied together and helped Abrahim Rahimi win the right to a judicial review of his asylum claim. A young Afghan man, Abrahim Rahimi, has just won the right to a judicial review of the Home Office decision to refuse to accept new evidence in his new asylum