Protesters in Athens rage against ‘pushback’ border tactics
European countries, including Britain, are increasingly resorting to illegal pushbacks of refugees and asylum seekers “with minimal accountability”.
That is the finding of a report from the continent’s leading human rights body, the Council of Europe. The “inhuman and degrading treatment” includes having bullets fired close to their bodies while they lay on the ground.
They’ve also being pushed into rivers, sometimes with hands tied. Other examples include being forced to walk barefoot or even naked across a border.
The Council’s anti-torture committee said it had identified “clear patterns of physical ill‑treatment” against people trying to cross borders all over Europe.
Refugees and asylum seekers were punched, slapped, beaten with truncheons, weapons, sticks or branches, by police or border guards. People on the move were subject to pushbacks, and expulsion from European states, either by land or sea, without having asylum claims heard.
Last November, the council conducted a rare “rapid reaction” visit to the Manston detention centre in Kent after it emerged thousands of people were being detained for weeks in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.
But while such bodies criticise governments, Labour’s critique of the Tories comes from the right. Labour shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the announcement about camps was “an admission of failure” on asylum policy.
She said it was not doing enough to deal with “costly hotel use”. Cooper demanded that deportations be speeded up.
Over 60 anti-racists in Birmingham held a protest on Saturday after a vicious attack on an elderly man leaving a mosque in the Kings Heath area of the city. Video of the assaults appears to show attackers using a racist slur before kicking the man.
Carol, a Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) activist, told Socialist Worker, “Birmingham SUTR immediately issued a statement condemning the attack and calling on people to join them in protest.
“The stall in Kings Heath was inundated with local people. They were angry and shocked that such an attack should take place in such a mixed community.
“Speakers included a relative of the victim and a local councillor, who condemned the racist rhetoric of the Tory government that was fuelling such attacks.
“Over 80 people, concerned about increasing racist tensions, left their details to stay in touch with SUTR.” Police say they are searching for the attackers who were described as two white men and one black man.
Afghan refugee families who were told by the Home Office to move from London to Yorkshire say their children’s education and health are being severely damaged. Some of the refugees also say doctors’ appointments, operations and jobs have been lost because of the move.
They face being forced to leave their latest hotel soon. This week the government announced that up to 8,000 Afghans in hotels or serviced accommodation could be given three months’ notice to move out.
The Home Office told about 40 Afghan families living in temporary accommodation in London to move to Wetherby in February. This led to protests outside Downing Street and legal action by the residents.
Some of the relocated residents are travelling to London for part of every week in order to hold down jobs. Yalda Nadiri, 18, was studying GCSEs in London in the hope of one day becoming a doctor. She said Home Office officials reassured her that she would have a school place.
“In Afghanistan, the Taliban do not want girls to get their education. But here it is the same for me. The Home Office ordered my family to leave London, promised us schools, and once we moved said ‘we do not have any space for you’,” she said. “They lied to us about our education.”
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