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UK: Refugees under attack

01 September 1999

A public meeting in Camden, north London, on October 27 was warned that the refugee community is under attack "both through the Asylum legislation proposed by the government and as victims of violent racism." Highlighting the intimidation of the Somali community the National Civil Rights Movement (NCRM) meeting brought together a number of families whose relatives have been either killed or seriously injured and launched campaigns around the cases of Farhan Mire and Liban Ali. Addressed by Liban's sister the meeting heard how, last June, her brother was attacked by a racist gang, beaten about the head, and left for dead in Leicester city centre. The young Somalian remained in a coma for five weeks. In a climate that Suresh Grover of the NCRM ironically described as "a post Macpherson paradise", Liban's attackers still remain at liberty. Farhan Mire's cousin described how Farhan was kicked to death by a white man in an unprovoked attack in Harrow, west London in December last year. A suspect was arrested by police officers but on the eve of the committal proceedings the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) discontinued the case. The family have lodged a complaint against the police but have yet to receive a reply. They are also demanding a meeting with the CPS and the Metropolitan police commissioner to express their concerns at the handling of Farhan's murder. In an emotional discussion session representatives of the Somali and other refugee communities expressed their disgust at government immigration procedures, and fear of racist attacks and killings, and police assaults. In summing up the meeting the NCRM's Suresh Grover explicitly linked the spate of racist attacks on refugees with government immigration and asylum policies. Contact: NCRM, c/o 14 Featherstone Road, Southall, Middlesex UB2 5AA, Tel 020 8574 0818, Fax 020 8813 9734, email: info@ncrm.org.uk