Sheffield councillors condemn “divisive rhetoric” by politicians for fuelling far-right violence

The Greens have submitted a motion to the next full meeting of Sheffield City Council on Wednesday (September 4). Labour councillors have also submitted a motion calling for unity against hate.

The motion from Green councillors Angela Argenzio and Maleiki Haybe condemns “organised racist and Islamophobic violence by far-right rioters in many towns and cities in England”.

It says it “believes the divisive rhetoric of some mainstream politicians and media has fuelled the recent violence and the ‘Stop the Boats’ narrative has contributed to division and has helped further stigmatise migrants and asylum seekers”.

The motion says that the fear of violence and intimidation led many people of colour in Sheffield, especially women, to feel unsafe in their home city. The threat of violence also affected businesses in the city, it said.

Many city centre firms closed on August 7, when a far-right anti-immigration protest was rumoured to be taking place. In the event, counter-protesters heavily outnumbered a small group that appeared in Barkers Pool.

Misinformation

That followed on from more than a week of racist and far right-inspired scenes of violence that broke out around the country after the killing of three children in Stockport, fed by online misinformation that the attacker was a recent asylum seeker and Muslim. A hotel housing asylum seekers in Wath was violently attacked and attempted to be set on fire by a crowd of rioters on Sunday, August 4.

Dozens of police officers were injured in the terrifying scenes and more than 32 people have now been convicted of offences related to the riot.

The motion refers to comments by “Dame Sara Khan, former independent adviser for social cohesion and resilience, that successive governments have failed the British people and left local authorities struggling to deal with consistent extremist challenges”.

It “recognises that migrants have always contributed to our society as workers, taxpayers and citizens and that segregation of asylum seekers into different systems for homelessness, destitution and work creates further division and lack of cohesion in society”.

It also “condemns the policy of austerity, which causes hardship and resentment amongst the communities most left behind”.

It welcomes the scrapping of the Rwanda deportation scheme and Bibby Stockholm barge and “also thanks the police and Crown Prosecution Service for pursuing rightful convictions and for the local press for reporting on the sentences”.

Humane

The motion also thanks the people of Sheffield “who came out to show their support for a modern Britain, with a determination to stand against violence, intimidation and racism.” It says that the majority of people in the city want a “fair, well managed and humane” asylum system.

The councillors want chief executive Kate Josephs to send a copy of the motion to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and to ask him to consider implementing the recommendations of the Khan Review on social cohesion.

Coun Argenzio, who is a migrant from Italy, said: “Mainstream politicians and media have fuelled the recent violence and the ‘Stop the Boats’ narrative has contributed to division and has unfairly stigmatised migrants and asylum seekers.

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“We have got to change the narrative on asylum seekers and refugees and recognise that migrants have always contributed to our society as workers, taxpayers and citizens and that segregation of asylum seekers into different systems for homelessness, destitution and work creates further division and a lack of cohesion in society.”

Coun Haybe commented: “I would like to thank the people of Sheffield who turned out in their thousands to demonstrate their opposition to the racist rioters and who made clear that the majority of people did not share their poisonous opinions.

“I believe that the majority of people in Sheffield want an asylum system that is fair, well-managed and humane. There have been some positive signs recently, such as the scrapping of the Rwanda deportation scheme and Bibby Stockholm barge, but we need to do a lot more.

“The policy of austerity by successive governments has fuelled resentment and is the root cause of much of the recent unrest.”

"The under-funding of our health and care services and the lack of social housing is not the fault of refugees but of decades of under-investment by successive Labour and Conservative governments.”