Media Coverage of March for Dignity

The march for dignity has been covered in Indymedia, Socialist Worker, Morning Star and the Bristol Post. Let us know if you have seen coverage elsewhere.

Day 5 - We arrived at UKBA

Extra people came to join us today, from Bristol, Cardiff and other places, together we walked in the rain to UKBA, where they refused to listen to us!

asylum seeker refused to be listened to by ukba after fifty mile walk pic.twitter.com/p1IoFyAlo2
— Dignity4AsylumSeeker (@DignityBristol) June 2, 2014

@DignityBristol We're listening & we're with you fighting for dignity not destitution
— STAR National (@STARnational) June 2, 2014

Marching to UKBA from City Hall, Cardiff.


Afterwards we visited the Oasis centre nearby for lunch and conversation. For those of us who have walked for multiple days it feels so sad to leave the group. We would like to thank you all for your support, whether you joined us on the walk, sent provisions, hosted us, prayed for us, signed our petition or commented and encouraged us via facebook or twitter

We done our great march from Bristol to Cardiff ,after had a lunch ready Bach to Bristol. pic.twitter.com/8FvEuI2qSr
— Dignity4AsylumSeeker (@DignityBristol) June 2, 2014

Also we were in the paper today!

Our message to the Freedom March in Brussels

Our facebook message to the Freedom March in Brussels, that we wrote together on Friday evening.

Post by Bristol Dignity For Asylum Seekers.

http://freedomnotfrontex.noblogs.org/

Have you signed the petition for a just asylum system that treats us like human beings yet?

We are walking to the home office in Cardiff this morning, to protest and collect petition signatures outside. We will make them aware of our petition, which will be handed in officially later, so please help by signing it.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/no-more-clampdowns-on-asylum-seekers

We walked for 5 days, you can take 5 minutes to sign your name!!!

Thank you

Powerful arrival in Cardiff

Walking the Coast Path

Today we did the last section of our journey, between Newport and Cardiff. The day started with a bit of a hectic moment about getting water but it arrived in time and no-body got dehydrated. We took the beautiful coastal path and spent the day in song. It was a good day for conversations as the path let us walk side by side in safety. We met lots of cows and enjoyed a few short breaks in the sunshine.

Coming into Cardiff and passing the Lynx hostel was an important moment for many of us. We paused a while to make our presence felt and make sure everyone got flyers.

We stopped outside the Home Office on our way into town, to express our dissent. The street rang with our chants. It's amazing how the power and energy have built up over four days walking together. There were strong and mixed feelings among us.

Sarkawt, one of the protesters, said:

"I've been here once before to hand in my fresh claim, and today I'm here to demand justice for everyone. It's not a specific feeling to be here, but I hope I never have to come here again"

Ahmad another said:

"We thank the government for giving 'leave to remain' to many refugees, to live in safety here, but still there are many left whose lives are in genuine danger, whose applications are refused by the government, denying them the protection they really deserve. "

Even Boris Johnson has called for an amnesty for undocumented migrants. We are looking forward to seeing the government implement this soon."

Everyone feels really proud to have done this distance and arrived here, we've done a great job and we hope the government will listen to our demands to treat us all as humans and give safety for every individual who is looking for protection. We were very happy to arrive at the church where we're staying. Local people had created a wonderful meal for us and we were glad to eat, rest and celebrate together. Spontaneous dancing followed, and later a fantastic jamming session.

On outskirts of Cardiff heading to Newport road singing and dancing ,see you #March4Freedom uk pic.twitter.com/XNp9Mf0XHq

— Dignity4AsylumSeeker (@DignityBristol) June 1, 2014

The longest miles - thanks for the support - Day 3

We set off from Chepstow, via the Castle and the busy High street (people looked a bit confused, but were friendly!)



We walked along lanes, past horses and sheep, we made friends with some animals 

























The Cor Cochion Caerd ydd (Cardiff Reds Choir) joined us at Shirenewton and walked a few miles with us.



We had Lunch and some of us played in the park.

After lunch we had to pick up the pace, because we had done much less than half of the walk, we had around 11 miles to go and if we walked at the same pace we wouldn't arrive until after 10pm. So no more stopping to talk to animals!

It was really hard, many of us were already quite tired, we encouraged each other and we made it to Newport by 8pm!

We stayed in a church which was built by Irish immigrants and has a congregation from around the world. 

People from the Newport Rising group came and hung out with us in the evening and we made plans to join them the next day for Breakfast.

They sent us out from Cardiff for what?

Asylum seekers in this region of the UK are dispersed from Cardiff, being sent from there out to many cities, like Bristol, Plymouth and Newport, without a choice of destination. Today we are walking back to Cardiff and asking them, what are we supposed to do now, must we wait, wait, wait with nothing?

Battling bushes and crossing the bridge to Wales - Day 2

The scapegoat squeezing down footpaths this morning to reach the Severn crossing #march4freedom #march4freedomuk pic.twitter.com/br18YbDmsa

— Dignity4AsylumSeeker (@DignityBristol) May 30, 2014

Triumphant arrival at Old Passage - We made it!

This was our first full day walking, it was tough! We walked from Shirehampton to Old Passage, which was around 9 miles, on overgrown and muddy paths, the goat's head and bum had to be separated and carried for some of it, because she just didn't fit. We were very pleased to arrive to Old Passage, a hamlet near the Severn Bridge, to meet with some others who came to join us. 

We had lunch and a group meeting to plan our crossing of the bridge, before setting off.

 Crossing the bridge felt amazing, it was noisy, with amazing views and we had a holiday feeling.

When we arrived on the other side of the bridge we celebrated with dancing, singing and playing drums.

Dignity marchers celebrating crossing bridge into Wales #march4freedomuk https://t.co/ml0wBo9BRp

— Dignity4AsylumSeeker (@DignityBristol) May 30, 2014

These signs welcomed us to Chepstow!

We just arrived Chepstow right now,we will stay to night here.# march 4freedom uk pic.twitter.com/RwOn2SRFFr

— Dignity4AsylumSeeker (@DignityBristol) May 30, 2014

We celebrated our arrival to Chepstow Methodist by dancing outside of the church, before going inside to enjoy the homemade cakes they had made for us. We are so blessed and grateful by their amazing hospitality and especially their shower!

We have walked far before, but you didn't see and I didn't tell

One walker says the last time they walked for many days was when escaping the war in their country and doing this walk is reminding them of that. But this journey isn't a secret, we don't need to hide, we walk together in solidarity, we want everyone to see us, to hear us, to know how we exist and to see our journeys.

We are crossing borders...

We talk about how by crossing the bridge we are crossing the border from England to Wales and exercising our freedom of movement without needing any permission, also shows how our freedom of movement is prevented by having to claim asylum in the first EU country you arrive in and looking at the messages of the 450K march from Strasbourg to Brussels, which inspired our march.

Our other Journeys

With our scapegoat, costumes and signs we are actively challenging people to notice us and engage with us, being in a public space, walking under our own steam, we invite people to empathise with us. They are impressed by our big journey to Cardiff and worried for the discomforts and difficulties we could face along the way.

But we ask what about our bigger journeys when we came to here, what about the hardships we suffered and the terrible, difficult, even deadly journeys refugees face when they flee and the ongoing perpetual state of waiting, not for 5 days, but even 5 years or more of waiting, discomfort and hardship. Our journeys to safety are long, difficult and not over yet, please emphathise with this and help us move closer to the finish line.

Look out for more posts about this throughout today.

March leaving Bristol - loud and proud

Walking, Singing, Chanting and Rain! Day One Complete

Edit 02/06/14: We have now arrived to Cardiff

On the Downs!

We set off from Malcolm X after some speeches with lots of energy and enthusiasm!

Post by Bristol Dignity For Asylum Seekers.

We stopped at the bottom of Park Street for a photo, before going up Park Street and along Whiteladies road in the pouring rain, but still smiling!

Post by Bristol Dignity For Asylum Seekers.

We didn’t get photos on the last leg to Shirehampton as it was just so wet, but today we are walking along by the River Severn and over the Bridge so look out for photos from that!

Post by Bristol Dignity For Asylum Seekers.

Thanks to everyone who supported us!

Our new leaflet to hand out on the march

We have been making signs for the Walk For Dignity!

Walking Together to End Injustices against Asylum Seekers

In the many countries we come from our lives were in danger. We were forced to leave to seek safety. We have walked long dangerous journeys to get here. Many people lost their lives along the way. We are walking to the Home Office in Cardiff because we need them to change the unjust laws that cause us much suffering.

Asylum Seekers have the right to be safe.

We are an advantage to the UK. Instead, we have to wait too many years for an answer to our asylum claim, not allowed to work in the meantime. We have to live on £5 a day, in temporary housing, not allowed to work, which is all very difficult and many of us become unwell.

We want a Just Asylum System

The home office wrongly refuses our asylum cases, all support is cut and we are not allowed to work. We are made destitute – left with nothing, yet we cannot return to our country of origin as we fear for our life. We are scapegoated for problems we did not cause.

End Forced Destitution of Asylum Seekers

We fear being locked up in a detention centres and deported to danger. They are imprisoning and punishing people for seeking asylum.

Stop detentions and deportations