A Sheffield anti-racism group is urging people to join their protest in London against what they say is a ‘brutal, racist and hostile environment for refugees and migrants’ in the UK.
Sheffield Stand Up To Racism will be travelling to London on 18 March to join the rest of the protesters for the UN anti racism day.
Maxine Bowler, the co-convener for Stand Up To Racism and the Vice president of the sheffield trade union council, told ShefNews: “The more of us that we can get over there, the more chance we have at winning people over with our cause.
“If people don’t do anything, the voice of the far-right can get louder and louder.”
This is following the spark of far-right protests against immigration in the UK.
On 18 February, far right protesters gathered outside hotels housing asylum seekers in Rotherham to protest against what they say is ‘illegal’ immigration.
The SUTR group arranged a successful counter demo of up to 500 people.
Miss Bowler has said that the government has allowed anti-immigration views to grow this far and they aren’t doing enough to stop it.
The protest in London this month will also fight against the government’s plans to offshore asylum seekers to Rwanda before their applications are processed by the Home Office.
Miss Bowler said: “The idea of offshoring refugees to Rwanda is quite fundamentally disgraceful.
“They’re advice to people travelling is to not go there, so why is it alright for them to send refugees?”
Protesters are also urging the government and institutions to bridge the inequality for migrants in the UK.
The SUTR group wants companies to take action in assessing the level of racism in their institution and for the government to stop shifting the blame to black and asian people in the country.
Miss Bowler said: “If it wasn’t for black people coming to this country our health service would be in complete and utter tatters.”
“They’ve created a scarcity of resources, underfunded all the services and then blamed the refugees.
“We are one race, the human race and we shouldn’t be picking on groups of people”
Protests are also taking place in Glasgow and Cardiff.