Soup protests - all went well

Bristol: Over 60 people braved the winter cold to join 'The Blair Soup Protest' in Bristol, on Saturday 4th January 2003. Organized by Bristol Defend Asylum Seekers Campaign the picket was a success with tremendous support from members of the public.

Glasgow: Protest in St. Enoch‚s Square.
Thank you to all those who turned out to support our protest against the ŒNationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002‚. We had a good turn out from Campaign supports and we also had passers-by showing their support for refugees and asylum seekers. BBC Radio Scotland, Real Radio, The Herald and a camera crew were also present.
The protest had a soup kitchen set up which was meant to show how the government expects asylum seekers to survive, relying purely on charity and the voluntary sector. 
On top of this we had six speakers: Elaine C. Smith, Tommy Sheridan MSP, Sandra White MSP, Mohammed Asif (Refugee Action Group), Jim Friel (GMPU) and John McFadden (FBU). They all delivered passionate speeches about the implications of this Act, being, as it is, a clear sign of the government‚s right-wing, racist agenda.
The event was attended by between 50 and 70 people which was a good turnout, given that it took place on a weekday morning. Amongst the crowd were people from all sorts of organisations such as Shelter, Save the Children, Glasgow Anti-Racism Alliance and the Scottish Socialist Party.
The only disappointment is with the lack of media coverage given to our protest and protest up and down the country, despite the media presence there. Politically, this is a very controversial subject indeed, we are very disappointed that the media did not attempt to tackle it.

London: About 60-70 people protested outside the Home Office in London last night to draw attention to the commencement of Section 55 of the 2001 Immigration Act. CDAS organised a soup kitchen to draw attention to the destitution that will be inflicted on those asylum seekers who have all support denied. Speakers included MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Neil Gerrard, Arlington Trotman from CCRJ, Don Flynn from JCWI and John Wadham from Liberty. Wadham reported that Liberty are taking a test case to challenge the new rules on in-country applicants. There were a lot of young people there including a good turnout from STAR.

Manchester: Just over 100 people attended, and we were greeted by about ten policemen and women and four police on horseback. Inspector Walker decided that our collection of food and clothing was an obstruction of the public highway. She also decided that it was rubbish and would be removed by Operational Services unless we removed it immediately ourselves! We distributed information leaflets and asked the general public to sign a letter to their MP

The rally was chaired by Burhan Fatah and Ann Maria Miwanda-Bagenda and included speakers representing the Iranian and Tanzanian communities. There were also speakers from the Manchester Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers and George House Trust (a local HIV agency). There were home made placards: "This law is evil", "Home Office abuses asylum seekers", "Don't let them starve" etc. There were also banners: "Asylum seekers are welcome in Manchester", "Stop the war on asylum seekers" as well as a couple of trade unions and the George House Trust banner.

Everything went off peacefully, despite the heavy handedness of the police.