Friday, August 2, 2013

«Go home !», ordonne la Grande-Bretagne aux clandestins (Video YT-liberation.fr)

La campagne officielle destinée à effrayer les sans-papiers divise la coalition au pouvoir. Les associations ripostent.

Par GUILLAUME GENDRON
«Rentrez chez vous». Le graffiti xénophobe qui couvrait les murs des quartiers populaires outre-Manche dans les années 1980 et 1990 est devenu le dernier slogan du gouvernement britannique à l’intention des sans-papiers. La dernière campagne anti-immigration clandestine orchestrée par le gouvernement tory fait polémique, au point de diviser la coalition au pouvoir. 
«Racist vans»

Toute la semaine dernière, les habitants de six arrondissements du nord de Londres ont pu voir des camions publicitaires circuler avec le message suivant : «In the UK illegally? Go home or face arrest.» («Au Royaume-Uni illégalement? Rentrez chez vous, ou attendez-vous à être arrêtés»).
L’affiche grand format, présentant des menottes sur fond noir, indique par ailleurs le nombre de sans-papiers arrêtés dans le quartier la semaine précédente et invite les immigrés illégaux à appeler une hotline qui se chargera de «faciliter» leur départ. Dans le même temps, le Home Office, le ministère de l’Intérieur britannique, tweete en direct l’arrestation de plusieurs suspects sur le terrain, photos floutées à l’appui, et égraine le nombre de sans-papiers interpellés chaque semaine. Au début du mois, un message controversé du Home Office sur le réseau social annonçait déjà la couleur en prévenant les immigrés illégaux qu’ils «n’auraient plus d’endroit où se cacher», une fois voté le projet de loi tory contre l’immigration clandestine.

Les camions, rapidement rebaptisés «racist vans» par les internautes, ont été remisés en début de semaine. Mais le message a été décliné sous forme de tracts, qui sont toujours distribués dans les quartiers. Le ministère de l’Intérieur affirme que l’opération n’a coûté que 11 000 euros, alors que l’expulsion par la force d’un seul sans-papiers en coûterait 6 000 de plus au contribuable. Si un seul clandestin quitte le pays en voyant l’affiche, l’opération pourra être considérée comme un succès, s’est vanté le Home Office.

  • Le Front national français applaudit

Lundi, un communiqué de Downing Street indiquait que David Cameron «soutenait fortement» cette campagne pilote, et envisageait de l’étendre au niveau national. Le lendemain, de retour de vacances, le vice-Premier ministre libéral-démocrate (Lib-Dem) Nick Clegg s’y opposait fortement. «Ce n’est pas une façon très intelligente de s’attaquer à ce problème» a-t-il lancé. Vincent Cable, le ministre du Commerce Lib-Dem avait auparavant dénoncé une campagne «stupide et insultante», qui «attise les peurs sans fondement» lors d’une interview télévisée. Boris Johnson, le maire de Londres et candidat potentiel à la succession de David Cameron à la tête du parti tory et du pays, s’est lui aussi montré réservé, jugeant le message «trop brutal».

Deux ans après les émeutes de Londres, si le gouvernement de David Cameron semble prêt à allumer des mèches dans les quartiers populaires, c’est qu’il se sent menacé par le succès de l’Ukip. Ce parti populiste eurosceptique et anti-immigration a récupéré une partie des électeurs tories lors des élections locales de mai. Le Premier ministre peine par ailleurs à remplir sa promesse de réduire le nombre d’immigrés de 250 000 à 150 000 par an d’ici 2015. Et ce malgré une série de mesures aussi brutales que controversées, comme l’instauration de fortes limitations sur les quotas d’étudiants étrangers, pourtant une source de revenus indispensable aux grandes universités britanniques.

Comble de l’ironie, le leader de l’Ukip, Nigel Farage, a lui aussi critiqué les relents de «Big Brother» de la campagne «Go home». En France, Steeve Briois, secrétaire général du Front National, s’est fendu d’un communiqué pour applaudir l’initiative des Tories. Un sondage paru dans le Sun mardi indiquait que 47% des Britanniques soutenaient la campagne, alors que 41% s’y opposaient.
  • Tracts et happenings
Sur les réseaux sociaux et dans la rue, les détracteurs de l’opération «Go home» sont passés de l’outrage à l’organisation d’une riposte. Dans une tribune publiée par le Guardian, une graphiste d’origine indienne raconte qu’elle a appelé le numéro indiqué sur les affiches pour demander à l’officier de l’UKBA (l’agence de contrôle aux frontières) au bout du fil de l’aider à rentrer à la maison... à Willesden, un quartier populaire au nord-ouest de Londres. Elle invite les lecteurs à faire de même et ainsi «troller» la campagne du ministère de l'Intérieur.

La vidéo montrant les «Southhall Black Sisters», un groupe de femmes d’origine indienne, forçant les agents de l’UKBA à battre en retraite dans leur quartier de l'ouest de la capitale, est devenu un hit viral en quelques heures :


Des tracts à imprimer, traduire et distribuer, indiquant les droits des sans-papiers et visant à perturber les «raids» des agents de contrôle de l'immigration, sont échangés sur Facebook et Twitter. La Commission pour l’égalité et les droits de l’homme, l’équivalent du Défenseur des droits au Royaume-Uni, a quant à elle annoncé qu’elle avait lancé une enquête sur la légalité de la campagne du gouvernement, ainsi que sur les actions menées par les officiers de l’UKBA dans les gares du pays, accusés par des témoins de contrôles au faciès systématiques.
 http://www.liberation.fr
2/8/13
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7 comments:

  1. Home Office 'Go Home' drive on illegal immigrants faces Liberty riposte...

    Charity's poster van tours London with counter message to 'tension-stirring' threats and Border Agency spot checks.

    It is another van carrying a poster connected to immigration, touring ethnically diverse parts of London, but the message could hardly be more different from the government's version.

    This poster van has been organised by the campaign group Liberty as a riposte to the Home Office's recent "Go Home" campaign.

    The Home Office vans, which toured six London boroughs in a pilot scheme that ministers said could be extended nationwide, carried the wording: "In the UK illegally? Go home or face arrest."

    Opponents, among them the business secretary, Vince Cable, labelled the scheme an offensive stunt. Some critics said the "go home" wording was reminiscent of racist slogans from the 1970s.

    The Liberty van, which was spending Tuesday following part of the route of its Home Office equivalent, carries the message: "Stirring up tension and division in the UK illegally? Home Office, think again."

    Rachel Robinson, a Liberty policy officer, who was spending the day in the van, said they had started their tour in Westminster. "We were outside the Home Office for a little while, and had some quizzical looks from officials. But it certainly seems to be having an impact."....http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/06/go-home-office-immigration-liberty
    6/8/13

    ReplyDelete
  2. ASA probes Home Office 'go home' van campaign....

    A scheme which saw vans drive through London calling on illegal immigrants to leave is to be investigated by the advertising watchdog.

    The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it had started the inquiry into the Home Office's "go home or face arrest" vans following 60 complaints.

    The pilot scheme has faced criticism from the Liberal Democrats and Liberty.

    A Home Office spokesman said it was in contact with the ASA and would "respond in due course".

    The ASA said it had been "flooded" with calls in support of the scheme following its decision to investigate.

    Communities Secretary Eric Pickles told BBC Radio 5 live that the scheme would be rolled out nationally, "if proved effective".

    He said: "Given Labour's open-door immigration policy, I don't see anything offensive as suggesting to illegal immigrants that their stay in this country might be shorter than they thought."
    'Misleading' claims

    The Home Office has said the pilot worked, but did not say how many people had left the country.

    Vans were driven around Barnet, Hounslow, Barking and Dagenham, Ealing, Brent and Redbridge as part of the campaign, which started on 22 July and lasted a week.

    In a statement, the ASA said the complainants - "individual members of the public" - had expressed concerns that the advert, in particular the phrase "go home", was offensive and irresponsible.....http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23632096
    9/8/13

    ReplyDelete
  3. Theresa May says 'go home' will not be rolled out across UK....

    Theresa May has said vans telling illegal immigrants to "go home" or face arrest will not be rolled out across the UK.

    A trial of the controversial vans in London is still being evaluated.

    But the home secretary told MPs she accepted they had "not been a good idea" and were too much of a "blunt instrument".

    Labour said Mrs May must take responsibility for the "complete failure" of the policy.

    Explaining her decision to ditch the campaign in the Commons, the home secretary said: "What I've done is looked at the interim evaluation in relation to the plans - and there were some returns achieved as a result of that.

    "Politicians should be willing to step up to the plate and say when they think something actually hasn't been as good an idea, and I think they were too blunt an instrument."

    'Stupid'

    But she defended government attempts to tighten up immigration enforcement when people overstay their visas, which she said had resulted in "something around 4,000 people leaving the UK"......http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24624383
    22/10/13

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bulgarians Rally in London against Anti-Immigrant Policies...

    Bulgarians and Romanians braved the rain and cold weather on Sunday evening and rallied in front of UK parliament in protest against the planned government restrictions on immigrants.

    Last month Cameron's cabinet announced a crackdown on so-called "benefit tourism", citing fears over mass immigration from Bulgaria and Romania.

    The main concern of the protesters is that the negative attitude towards Bulgarians and Romanians directly reflects on their job opportunities.

    The leading print and electronic editions in UK regularly discuss British fears of the East European immigration wave and the dramatically increasing crime rates once the job restrictions are removed on January 1.

    Meanwhile, dozens of Bulgarian students in Britain are about to interrupt their education because of bureaucratic pressure and chaos, leading to the suspension of their student loans, Bulgarian newspaper "Trud" (Labor) informed.

    Students from Bulgaria and Romania have had funds on their bank accounts frozen; others have received letters from Student Loans Company (SLC) saying they were under investigation, because they were citizens of the two countries.

    Just a few weeks ago British tabloids reported that student grants for Bulgarians and Romanians would be suspended.

    The British Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria denied the information and claimed that tuition loans remained unaffected. However, maintenance loans were suspended due to the unexpectedly increased number of applicants.

    The series of measures proposed by David Cameron's cabinet include the restriction on new immigrants who will not get out-of-work benefits for the first three months and payments will be stopped after six months unless they have a "genuine" chance of a job.

    Still many officials, including Cameron's ministers, believe the government should go further than that.

    http://www.novinite.com/articles/156460/Bulgarians+Rally+in+London+against+Anti-Immigrant+Policies#sthash.uIIpF5o4.dpuf
    16/12/13

    ReplyDelete
  5. Arbeitslosenhilfe: London schränkt Leistungen für EU-Einwanderer ein....

    Großbritannien zahlt EU-Einwanderern ab Januar in den ersten drei Monaten keine Arbeitslosenhilfe mehr. Man wolle weniger attraktiv für Einwanderer sein, die versuchten, "auf Staatskosten zu leben".

    Angesichts von Klagen über sogenannten Sozialhilfetourismus hat die britische Regierung Einschnitte bei Unterstützungsleistungen für Einwanderer aus EU-Staaten ab Januar angekündigt.

    Ab Jahresbeginn bestehe in den ersten drei Monaten nach der Einwanderung kein Anspruch auf Arbeitslosenhilfe mehr, erklärte Premierminister David Cameron in London.

    Das vorgesehene Paket, das auch weitere Maßnahmen enthält, werde Großbritannien zu einem "weniger attraktiven Ort für EU-Einwanderer machen, die herkommen und versuchen, auf Staatskosten zu leben".

    Aktionsplan der EU-Kommission

    Das Maßnahmenpaket war im November angekündigt worden, allerdings gab es bislang keinen konkreten Zeitplan. Camerons konservative Regierung klagt bereits seit Längerem über Einwanderer aus ärmeren EU-Staaten wie etwa Rumänien und Bulgarien und wirft ihnen vor, die britischen Sozialsysteme zu belasten.

    Zum Jahresende laufen Beschränkungen für die Freizügigkeit von Arbeitnehmern aus diesen beiden Staaten aus.

    In der Europäischen Union gibt es eine Debatte über die Freizügigkeit, in der sich auch der frühere Bundesinnenminister Hans-Peter Friedrich (CSU) und die niederländische Regierung ähnlich wie Cameron äußerten.

    Die EU-Kommission legte im Oktober einen Aktionsplan vor, mit dem möglicher Missbrauch von Sozialsystemen bekämpft werden soll.
    AFP/nidi
    http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article123060984/London-schraenkt-Leistungen-fuer-EU-Einwanderer-ein.html
    18/12/13

    ReplyDelete
  6. UK launches £2m project in Greece to assist repatriation of migrants...

    Scheme unveiled by British embassy in Athens as part of efforts to stem flow of immigrants to UK.

    The British government has launched a £2m project in Greece to assist the repatriation of migrants to countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as it emerged that 18,500 had voluntarily left since the onset of the Greek debt crisis.

    The British embassy unveiled the programme in Athens on Wednesday as part of an effort to stem the flow of immigrants to the UK.

    "Our assessment is that the UK remains a primary final destination country for many of the irregular migrants in Greece," said the British ambassador, John Kittmer.

    "British funding for this programme is ultimately about reducing illegal migration to the UK. That is why we are co-operating with the Greek government as it faces the continuing challenge of illegal migration."

    With one of the longest coastlines in Europe and some of its most porous borders, Greece has long been seen as the easiest backdoor entrance to the EU. Migrants from Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the vast majority smuggled from neighbouring Turkey, view it as a stepping stone to a better life. In recent years refugees fleeing Syria's civil war have swelled the numbers arriving.

    The influx has increased pressure on Greece's cash-strapped government to step up patrols along Europe's eastern border. Under the watchful eye of the EU, and that of the country's neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, the administration of prime minister Antonis Samaras has cracked down on illegal migrants, often employing controversial measures to round them up and clear them off the streets.

    The construction of a six-mile barbed wire security fence along the Greek-Turkish land border has also dramatically reduced the flow, but smugglers are increasingly ferrying their human cargo to Greece's outlying eastern isles in the Aegean Sea.

    Home Office officials said Turkey's liberal visa regime and the expansion in Asia and Africa of Turkish Airlines, the country's national carrier, had helped facilitate the influx.

    Many of the 1,500 migrants the programme seeks to assist would otherwise end up in the UK, they said................http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/19/uk-launches-project-greece-repatriation-migrants
    19/2/14

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UK benefits to be accessible to EU immigrants earning €180 per week...

      The British government plans to implement a new requirement for EU immigrants before they can claim benefits: they must prove they have been earning at least £149 (€180) a week for three months. Brussels says the requirement is not compatible with EU law.

      The plans, which were reaffirmed by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, will come into force on March 1.

      "These reforms will ensure we have a fair system - one which provides support for genuine workers and job seekers, but does not allow people to come to our country and take advantage of our benefits system,” Smith said.

      Those who do not meet the threshold will have to undergo a fuller assessment on whether the work they are doing is "genuine and effective,” he added. They will also have to wait a further three months before becoming eligible for Jobseekers' Allowance or claiming housing benefits.

      The amount of £149 a week is the level at which people start paying a National Insurance Contribution. An EU migrant who has been earning above this figure will be eligible for Jobseekers Allowance, child tax credits, child benefit, and other benefits.

      The plan to assess European Economic Area (EEA) immigrants by the benchmark was first announced by Prime Minister David Cameron last year. The figure will rise to £153 in 2014-15.

      Cameron had been under pressure from his own Conservative MPs to take action before work restrictions were lifted for Romanians and Bulgarians on January 1..................http://rt.com/news/uk-eu-migrants-benefits-778/
      19/2/14

      Delete

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