Stand Up To Racism says:

‘We say that Afghan refugees are welcome here, and call on the government to let in all Afghan refugees and stop returns. The scheme announced by Priti Patel to work with partners and other countries to settle 20,000 refugees in Britain, and with only 5,000 to be settled this year, is woefully inadequate. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has thrown millions of people’s lives under urgent threat.

The fact that the Austrian, Danish, Belgian, Dutch, Greek and German governments have said in a letter to the European Commission,  “Stopping returns sends the wrong signal and is likely to motivate even more Afghan citizens to leave their home for the EU”, is very worrying.

The backdrop to the crisis in Afghanistan and the urgent need for action to welcome refugees is that government’s across Europe, and particularly in Britain have deliberately engineered racist hostile environments for refugees and migrants. Here, the Nationality and Borders bill is a major threat that is intensifying this, and making it even harder for those fleeing danger and seeking asylum. Some 99 percent of those seeking asylum are forced to do so via so called “illegal” routes. The impact of the bill, which aims to stop all asylum claims of those arriving via illegal routes, would be devastating.

The British state bears the greatest culpability of all the European states as one of the architects of the war in Afghanistan. We demand safe routes to be available immediately, and that the borders are opened to all Afghan refugees seeking asylum in Britain, that deportations are stopped immediately and that the Nationality and Borders bill is scrapped.

Please show your solidarity and come to Carfax Tower from 5PM.’