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Local Campaigns

women in the snow at the London solidarity action

Hunger For Freedom day of action: one month on

This Wednesday 21st March will mark one full month since people inside Yarl’s Wood began their strike actions. On 21st February, 120 people detained at Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire started a hunger strike. Since then, strikers have been refusing food, refusing to work, and refusing to use services inside detention, with a list of demands against the detention system. Read the demands here. There have been actions in support of the strikers in… Read more »

Manchester and Liverpool stand in solidarity with the Yarl’s Wood strikers

By Lauren Cape-Davenhill, These Walls Must Fall campaigns coordinator At the University and College Union International Woman’s Day rally in Liverpool last week, the These Walls Must Fall banner made its way through sunny streets with about 400 passionate and noisy academics, students and university staff. On arriving by the waterfront just down the road from a jaunty statue of the Beatles and next to a ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ bus, it was time to bring… Read more »

Video: Yarl’s Wood protest at the Home Office

On Wednesday 28 February, over 200 people braved the freezing weather and took to the streets in London in solidarity with the men and women on hunger strike in Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre. They gathered outside the Home office headquarters. Solidarity actions also took place outside of Home Office buildings in Leeds and Glasgow. Over loudspeakers, one of the hunger strikers spoke to the crowd in London by phone: “You’re fighting for our liberty… Read more »

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Manchester action

Back where it all began… In November 2016, These Walls Must Fall hosted their first open meetings at Cross Street Chapel, to discuss, plan and start building a new kind of local campaign against detention in Greater Manchester. This was just over a year ago, and under the shadow of the detention local activist Dianne Ngoza*, people discussed the open-source, decentralised, non-directive approach of the campaign, and explored what the challenges and opportunities might be… Read more »

“Here, the religion is football”

On a cold snowy night in Newcastle last week, there was a great turnout for our These Walls Must Fall training session.  There were students, activists and experts-by-experience on detention in the room – and some were all three. After equipping people with some basic facts about detention – what it is, who it affects and why its wrong – the session turned to local action against detention. There were great suggestions made on thinking… Read more »

This Council believes …. These Walls Must Fall!

Yesterday, Manchester City Council become the first local authority in Britain to pass a motion condemning immigration detention.  You can read the motion here. The motion, proposed by Councillor Mahadi Sharif, was passed unanimously by the council. Here’s how it happened: Councillor @kelly4labour seconding the #TheseWallsMustFall motion at #Manchester council. We must send a message to the government: "enough is enough!" #unlocked17— Right to Remain (@Right_to_Remain) November 29, 2017 Final #mcc business is @MahdiTaarwale, who came… Read more »

Manchester group photo

“When you see injustice – speak out!”: These Walls Must Fall in Manchester

Last Thursday human rights campaigners, union members, migrant rights groups, political representatives and other members of the public met in Manchester to campaign against immigration detention. Setting up for the big event at the historic Mechanics Institute.Follow us, @wallsmustfall and #TheseWallsMustFall for updates! pic.twitter.com/EAcln0LgrG— Right to Remain (@Right_to_Remain) November 2, 2017 Gathering at Manchester’s historic Mechanics Institute, at a campaign launch meeting organised with Uniet the Union Greater Manchester Social Action Branch, over 120 people… Read more »

The murals on the wall: local action against immigration detention

By Lisa Matthews, Coordinator at Right to Remain Immigration detention is a national policy, but we believe change will come from local communities calling for change at a local level. It is local communities that are being damaged and divided by detention, and it is from local communities that people are snatched and taken many miles away, locked up in detention centres indefinitely. Local people – constituents – have the power to influence their MPs… Read more »

Manchester November 2

Manchester campaign public meeting, 2 Nov 2017

Challenging immigration detention. These Walls Must Fall campaign meeting Thursday 2 November 7pm – 9pm Mechanics Centre 103 Princess Street Manchester M1 6DD Speakers include: Julie Ward, Member of European Parliament, NW England Unite the Union, NW389 Social Action Branch Freed Voices group: experts-by-experience Right to Remain Manchester Migrant Solidarity Women Asylum Seekers Together African Rainbow Family This event is free, but with limited places. Please register to ensure you can attend. Book your place!… Read more »

Migration Matters

These Walls Must Fall: Sheffield

Right to Remain took These Walls Must Fall to Sheffield’s fabulous Migration Matters festival last week, as part of a two-part workshop, looking firstly at navigating the UK’s asylum system (based on the Right to Remain Toolkit) and then at an issue that affects all people seeking the right to remain in the UK: immigration detention. Preparing for our workshop on challenging immigration #detention today at Sheffield @MigMatFest #thesewallsmustfall #nooneisillegal pic.twitter.com/icXRPWVvsa— Right to Remain (@Right_to_Remain)… Read more »

A polite revolution

What makes people start caring about an issue? And what makes people go beyond just caring to doing something about it? These were some of the questions considered during a These Walls Must Fall workshop in Manchester this week, with campaigners from asylum-seeking and other migrant backgrounds. How many people would date their political awakening to being handed a flyer, or asked to sign a petition, or reading a policy report? In all honesty, very… Read more »