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Racial Tensions in Southampton
By Barnie Choudhury
Social Affairs Correspondent
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Southampton's most senior police officer has appealed for calm between the city's ethnic minority communities and Afghan asylum seekers. Tensions remain high after a serious disturbance involving more than 100 people in the city almost a fortnight ago.
For years St. Mary's in Southampton was the red light district and a haven for drug dealers. But residents say they have almost driven both trades away. One local businessman however, described how one problem had been swapped for another.
"The last thing they wanted was a load of asylum seekers chucked into their area. But the council don't want to accept that responsibility and they don't want to upset the white middle class. So they thought well these people are mugs so let them have them."
Their anger is towards a specific set of asylum seekers - those from Afghanistan.
Few would have been surprised if white people had made these comments, but St. Mary's is a mix of Asian and African and Caribbean residents of all religions. They claim that Afghan refugees have been pestering young girls and women to go out with them. According to locals there has also been an upsurge in violence.
Part of the problem, says Tony Brooms, Chairman of the Federation of Ethnic Minority Groups, is the government's policy on the dispersal of asylum seekers:
"Perhaps the authorities have underestimated the problems that they were bringing into the city. Yeah, we may be ethnic minorities but we've been here for a long time and we've adapted to what's expected of us. Really they've been brought in cold and told to get on with it and it's not correct."
Southampton City Council's contract is to take a maximum of 500 asylum seekers. A spokesman told us that there were no more than 75 Afghans dispersed all over the city. What it cannot stop are the Afghan refugees who have been given leave to stay in Britain. Chief Superintendent Graham Wyeth from Hampshire Police knows they have a problem:
"My biggest fear is that people will take the law into their own hands. I heard at the public meeting that if the police don't protect us we'll sort things out ourselves. That would sadden me because presumably that implies violence."
About a fortnight ago there was a 'large scale disturbance' in the city involving up to a hundred and fifty people. Mr. Wyeth acknowledges there has been a build up in tensions caused by an influx of asylum seekers, legal refugees and illegal migrants.
The Afghan refugees we spoke to were very positive about Southampton and denied causing trouble.
In February the Home Secretary announced a move away from dispersal to holding centres in locations yet to be chosen. This should help keep tabs on asylum seekers. In the meantime dispersal continues and with it problems that cross all racial communities.
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Not all welcomes are as warm as this. |
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A typical street scene hides growing racial tensions. |
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