March for Dignity Arrives in Newport

The marchers write:

In the many countries we come from we could not practice freedom. We were forced to leave to seek safety, freedom and equality. We have walked many journeys to get to the UK. Many people lost their lives along the way, trying to cross in to Fortress Europe. Since 1990, 20,000 people have died in the Mediteranean region as a result of Border Controls. No human is illegal. No human should die.

Abolish Dublin III, Frontex, Eurosur and Fingerprinting

We made it. Luckier ones. But we have to continue walking. We are scared that we will be put in to detention prisons and deported. We feel sad for our friends who are already in detention centres or who have been deported. We are motivated by the migrant protest march in Europe and want to come together here in the UK with many people so we can also walk to seek freedom and dignity.

Stop Detention and Deportation of Refugees and Migrants

We are an advantage to the UK. We want to be allowed to contribute, to pay taxes. Instead, the Home Office is a nightmare to us. We have to wait long time, often many years, for an answer to our asylum claim. They put us through inhumane interviews and then wrongly refuse our asylum cases and our lives are stuck for years, prohibited from working or from claiming benefits. The government politices make many of us destitute. We are frustrated that we are scapegoated for problems we did not cause.

Freedom of Movement and Residency for All

We are the backbones of you here. Migrants do many jobs which keep this country going and contribute a lot in taxes. Also, many white British people have been in our countries: Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Syria, Zimbabwe. They went to our country to exploit us, to bring resources back here. Yet, when we come here, they treat us as non-entities. This is racist and injust.

Freedom and Dignity for all