Racist Attack on Kurdish Refugees Provokes Resistance in Wales
posted by Anarchist on Wednesday June 25 2003 @ 01:21PM PDT


Refugee 'stable' after attack
Wednesday, 25 June, 2003

A Kurdish refugee remains in a stable condition in Wrexham Maelor Hospital three days after being injured in a clash with Caia Park residents. It is believed Hoshank Baker Kader, 32, suffered a fractured skull when fighting broke out on Sunday night outside the Red Dragon public house.

His friend Saman Hussein Nadir, an asylum seeker who has not yet been given leave to stay in the UK, said he is very concerned about him.

"Hoshank is very ill," he said. "I'm worried my friend is going to die." He added: "He is not good at all."

Saman alleged that Hoshank, who has lived in Wrexham for nearly a year, had been attacked by 15 local men. "The men came and attacked him," he alleged.

"Hoshank was on the floor with lots of blood, he was bleeding on his back and stomach".

"His head was bleeding, there was lots of blood and he was making funny noises."

Saman said he fled the Y Wern area of the estate where he was living following Sunday's clashes.

Trouble first erupted in what police then described as "racially motivated" clashes sparked by "an incident" between a local resident and a refugee. The situation intensified on Monday when around 200 people were involved in a stand-off with police in full riot gear. Eyewitnesses said petrol bombs, bricks and stones were thrown at police at the height of the disturbance.

On Tuesday, peace had been restored to the estate as police regularly patrolled the area.

Wrexham Maelor Hospital have refused to give further details about Hoshank Baker Kader's condition at the request of his friends.

Thirty men have been arrested over the past three days and 12 have been charged in connection with the rioting.

---

Refugees 'flee' estate after clash
Tuesday, 24 June, 2003

Until Sunday, Iraqi Kurd refugees and residents of Caia Park in Wrexham had apparently been living in harmony. However, after 48 hours of violence which culminated in a stand-off between riot police and 200 people the refugees have said enough is enough.

Fearing for their safety, the Iraqi men fled their homes and asked community leaders and North Wales Police to find them new accommodation.

Asylum seeker Saman Hussein Nader has been in Wrexham for two years. "People in Wrexham very bad, all of them," he said. "People hate me, I don't know why. We don't like trouble, just go to work and come back home"

"When you go out, they see your hair black, they all hate you, all people nasty to you without any reason."

"I left my country because people they make trouble for me. I came to this country to save my life."

Speaking through an interpreter his friend Ali Hussein Karim said he would like to make friends with people but it has not happened. "I'd like to get friends but people don't like me," he said. Ali is a refugee and has been given leave to stay in the UK. "People hate me, I don't know why. We don't like trouble, just go to work and come back home," he added.

"I can imagine after seeing this kind of violence they think it represents Wrexham as a whole and it doesn't," said Marjorie Dykins, secretary of the Wrexham and District Refugee and Asylum Seekers support group. "They have come from countries where there is torture and violence so they are sensitive to these sort of issues. A lot of the Iraqi Kurds had signs of torture on their body." Mrs Dykins said it is difficult to ascertain how many refugees and asylum seekers live in Wrexham. "A number of asylum seekers come into Wrexham and we have about 60 at any time," she said. "The ones we know about are now refugees and when they are refugees they are free to go where they like. We don't know the numbers of refugees in the area. Refugees do want to integrate but when they see a big mob they do get frightened."

A minority of people living in Caia Park have demanded to know why the majority of Iraqi refugees living on the estate are young males.

"When you're single and a man it's more likely that you can flee and their families are persuading them to go," said Mrs Dykins.

However, Wrexham Council have stressed there are Iraqi families also living on the estate who have integrated well.

---

More violence on Caia estate
Tuesday, 24 June, 2003

Police in full riot gear were pelted with petrol bombs and missiles as a crowd of up to 200 people ran amok during a second night of violence on a north Wales housing estate. Trouble first erupted on Wrexham's Caia Park Estate overnight on Sunday with what police say were "racially motivated" clashes sparked by an incident between a local resident and a refugee.

Over 100 officers were drafted into the area on Monday - including reinforcements from Merseyside Police - four of whom received minor injuries.

A further five people were arrested, on top of nine men who were already being held by North Wales Police who warn more arrests are likely.

The second night of trouble began just before 2100 BST when crowds gathered near the Red Dragon pub and on park land in the middle of the estate.

Residents said a car was pushed into the river Gwenfro and set alight, stones were thrown at shop windows, then bottles, lumps of coal and petrol bombs were hurled at police dressed in riot gear who were trying to keep the crowd from moving further up the street.

Reinforcements were drafted in from Merseyside Police. One officer said he had seen young children throwing petrol bombs.

But by around 0130 BST on Tuesday the crowds had mostly died away.

One eyewitness said she saw youngsters in a stand-off with officers. "I saw kids as young as 10 throwing petrol bombs," she said.

One resident who did not wish to be named added: "I've never seen anything like this in all my life."

On Tuesday, North Wales Police Deputy Chief Constable Bill Brereton warned rioters: "We will be coming for you. We will be very strongly investigating this very robustly."

"There will be arrests made over the coming days. We have got some very good evidence.

"So if people have been involved in this situation, we will be coming for you, on our terms, at our time, and making arrests because we cannot tolerate this."

Mr Brereton rejected suggestions that policing had been heavy-handed.

"People should not have to put up with this," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"We had disorder. Clearly, we had extra officers there. It turned out there was disorder, there were missiles being thrown, there were petrol bombs being thrown and clearly we had to call for more officers to go in to help."

Mr Brereton said the violence was the result of "a number of issues going on".

Dog handlers and mobile vans with surveillance equipment on board were called in to help police in riot gear.

Local people, too scared to reveal their identities, said they feared for their families' safety.

"We've never had fighting here before," said one woman who lives near the Red Dragon pub.

She added: "The kids are too frightened to go to school.

"Caia Park's got a bad enough name as it is."

On Sunday night around 30 people were involved in two separate incidents near the Red Dragon pub on the estate's Prince Charles Road.

Those clashes, described by police as being "racially motivated" were between local residents and Iraqi refugees.

The Iraqis involved had lived on the estate for a year and there had never been trouble before.

On Monday Iraqi residents living in Caia Park told members of the Wrexham Assylum Seekers and Refugee Support Group that they were afraid to return to their homes on the estate.

Five men are expected to appear at Mold Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with violent disorder following the disturbance in Caia Park on Sunday.

Nine others who were arrested at the same time and on Monday night are still in custody being questioned by police.

 http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/06/25/2518285

Did you know that much of the ethnic welsh population of South Wales is descended from African slaves who were brought to the region by the Phonecians before the birth of Christ?

Just for your information.