These Walls Must Fall campaigners joined the Manchester Pride parade last week in a show of strength and defiance, following far right violence and government statements that have brought so much fear to our communities.

A city of sanctuary?

Manchester is a City of Sanctuary, although recently it has not felt like that. Manchester Pride has always been a place of sanctuary and solidarity for us, but just a few weeks ago, our group took the painful decision not to walk on the parade this year. Some of us were too afraid of racist violence. We changed our mind. Here’s a story of why, what happened, and what we’re doing next…

Manchester Pride is a special day for us. Many of our members are LGBTQI+ people seeking sanctuary from persecution. It was in Manchester, in 2017, that These Walls Must Fall was launched. And at Pride 2022, we were honoured to take part and perform in the Candlelit Vigil, a deeply moving event where our members shared stories of persecution, fear, escape, solidarity, love, and hope.

After initially deciding not to attend, we met again to discuss how we were feeling, and decided that we cannot continue to live in fear like that. It means so much to us, to come together and be with our community on our streets, celebrating our sexuality in public; something that most of us could never do in our countries of origin. The Pride organisers also reached out to us, with understanding and compassion, and offered extra care and support for our group and our friends from other refugee and migrant organisations. We thank you so much for this! And Right to Remain staff and volunteers helped us to plan, prepare, stay safe and have fun!

A city of solidarity

We had a beautiful, joyous day together with our friends, our community. We felt safety, we felt belonging. But one day of celebration is not enough. We are living in constant struggle and we need radical solidarity to individually survive these situations and to collectively work to end this racist, hostile environment.

Ahead of Manchester Pride 2024, our members composed this letter to local politicians, particularly those who joined the parade…

As you participate in the Manchester Pride March today, we, members of both the LGBTQI+ community and the wider Manchester community, feel compelled to share our urgent concerns with you. We are individuals who have fled persecution in our home countries, only to face new forms of persecution here in this city of sanctuary.

The past weeks have been incredibly difficult for us. We have endured racist attacks that have left us retraumatised. While we may be forced to hide our sexuality in certain situations, we cannot hide our skin color.

During the Manchester Pride vigil in 2022, we shared our difficult and hostile experiences (you can view it here). In that moment, hope was restored. But now, Yvette Cooper’s recent targeting of our community, with plans to detain us and open more detention centres, has come as a devastating shock. We placed so much faith in the Labour government, and this betrayal is deeply unsettling.

Some of us are still recovering from being unlawfully detained under the Rwanda deportation scheme, simply for having asking for sanctuary. After being released from detention centres, we returned to our communities more traumatised, living in fear and anxiety. We have been racially targeted again, instilling a deep fear in us and making it difficult to trust our neighbors.

Now, we face further trauma with the news that more detention centres may be reopened and that we may be detained again. For LGBTQI+ asylum seekers, our "crime" is often our inability to prove our sexuality in a Home Office interview or a court room. We are an intentionally forgotten community — our feelings don't seem to matter.

After all the trauma we have endured, from being detained and racially attacked (sometimes even with our children in hotels), there is no aftercare plan or well-being support in place for us. Instead, we face continued harm through hostile environment policies. There is only so much a human being can endure.

Building a movement for justice

To everyone who is struggling with the immigration and asylum system, everyone who is being targeted by the far right and the government, we say: do not be on your own, do not be passive. You are strong to have made it this far, you are a survivor, we all are. And together, we are stronger, together we are safer, together we have power. Come to our meetings and events, join us in our protests, raise your voice with us!

To the wider community, to everyone who believes in fairness, justice, equality, anti-racism, we are at a crossroads. When the anti-migrant, racist violence exploded, the government’s response was to immediately announce immigration raids on our communities and a plan to open two new detention centres. What will your response be? We were heartened by the massive crowds who came out to face down the far right threats to our community and advice centres and our homes and accommodation. Honestly, it gave us so much hope. Can we build on that, can you help us respond to the threat of detention and deportation?

First challenge: stop the detention expansion plans

This is an urgent priority for us right now. The previous government created an immigration and asylum system that was stacked against us from the start. They cut access to lawyers, meaning many lost their cases. Then they basically stopped processing asylum applications until an incredible backlog built up.

The new government has made clear that, rather than addressing this injustice, they will punish the survivors, round us up and take us to detention centres. Some will be deported, but most will be released, retraumatised, back to the community.

Immigration detention is administrative imprisonment without time limit. It is cruel, racist, state violence. The government’s plan is bringing fear to our communities, making it even harder for us to organise and challenge these policies. The plan relies on immigration raids on communities and workplaces, and the opening of two new detention centres. We need to resist both of these things.

National demonstration against detention, October 19

We are working with the No To Hassockfield campaign to organise a demonstration at Hassockfield/Derwentside detention centre, at Consett, County Durham, on October 19th. We would love it if you could join us! It’s a bit of a treck to Derwentside – isolation is part of the plan with immigration detention. Thats why we are organising coach travel from the north west. More details will follow, but for now, here’s the Facebook event page.

Solidarity Sessions

For people in Greater Manchester, (maybe you met us on the Pride parade), we run regular Solidarity Sessions in the city, and sometimes online, for people who want to learn, share knowledge, and build radical solidarity for migrant rights. Keep an eye on our website and social media for news. The next one is coming soon, and will be all about resistance to detention, and organising for the demonstration in October.