Several hundred noisy demonstrators filled the streets of Cardiff today (Sat Oct 22) to protest against the forced deportation of asylum-seekers to countries such as Iraq, Zimbabwe and DR Congo, and to oppose Section 9 of the 2004 Immigration Act which gives councils the right to forcibly remove the children of asylum-seekers - an appalling and brutal measure so far piloted in London, Leeds and Manchester.
The march and rally were organised by the Cardiff Social Forum in association with refugee groups in the city - fulfilling the aims of the forum to bring together those politically opposed to globalisation with its immediate victims.
Speakers from Liberia, DR Congo and the Kurdish area of Iraq addressed the crowd after a rousing march, which marks the start of a sustained initiative by the social forum to resist the governement's asylum policy and educate people to its reality.
Local fascists organised a counter-demonstration of two which was not long-lived.