3 weeks ago
Protest becomes pogrom: Home Office must draw a clearer line
For three nights, a crowd in Thetford, a town in England, was very angry.
They shouted unkind words and threw eggs at a house where people seeking safety in the UK were living.
They broke the windows and tried to break down the door, and they scared the police who tried to stop them.
The police moved the people in the house somewhere safer.
The crowd was angry because the government wanted to turn an old air force base nearby into a big home for people seeking safety.
Many people in the town did not want that, and some national groups that dislike immigrants helped organise the protests.
The government said violence is never okay.
But some people were upset because the government did not mention the people who were scared inside their own home.
A local politician said these people are human beings who deserve the same rights as everyone else.
Scaring people in their homes to force them to leave is not the same as a peaceful protest.
Three nights of violence in Thetford, Norfolk, saw a mob chanting “deport, deport, deport,” pelting a house with eggs, smashing its windows, and attacking police.
Asylum seekers housed in the property were relocated by police for their own safety; the article describes the violence as an attempt at a xenophobic pogrom, not political protest.
The unrest followed weeks of protest, including unanimous town council opposition, to government plans to turn RAF Barnham, over the Suffolk border, into a major asylum accommodation site.
A Home Office spokesperson said “violence and disorder are never acceptable” but did not mention the targeting of asylum seekers.
Local Labour MP Terry Jermy said the asylum seekers “are human beings that must be afforded the same rights that we all expect in this country.”
- Who
- A mob in Thetford, Norfolk; asylum seekers living in the targeted house; police; the Home Office; local Labour MP Terry Jermy; ministers Anna Turley and Wes Streeting; and national far-right groups.
- What
- Three nights of mob violence — egg-throwing, smashed windows, and attempts to storm a house — aimed at driving asylum seekers out of Thetford.
- Where
- Thetford, Norfolk, with related unrest in Belfast and Epping and protests at the RAF Barnham base over the Suffolk border.
- When
- No specific dates are given in the article; the disorder lasted three consecutive nights.
- Why
- Anger over government proposals to turn RAF Barnham into a major asylum accommodation site, alongside anti-immigrant sentiment that saw the mere presence of asylum seekers treated as a threat.
Liberal and asylum-rights advocates
Community opponents and nationalist groups
Nature of the Thetford disorder
Liberal and asylum-rights advocates
The violence was an attempt at a xenophobic pogrom to drive asylum seekers out, not political protest; intimidating people in their homes to force them out must be an absolute red line.
Community opponents and nationalist groups
The disorder reflected genuine community anger over asylum accommodation plans that locals felt were imposed on them with no say and little advance notice.
Home Office response
Liberal and asylum-rights advocates
The statement failed to mention the targeting of asylum seekers and seemed to try much harder to empathise with the mob than with its victims.
Community opponents and nationalist groups
The statement rightly put community concerns at the centre of immigration reforms while making clear that violence and disorder are never acceptable.
RAF Barnham asylum accommodation plan
Liberal and asylum-rights advocates
Large RAF bases are flashpoints and the worst option; a controlled refugee route with community contact at its heart could make local voice central to refugee protection.
Community opponents and nationalist groups
The plan should be scrapped — the town council was unanimous in opposition and both local Labour MPs were critical of it.
Key facts
- Location
- Thetford, Norfolk, England
- Incident
- Three nights of mob violence targeting a house occupied by asylum seekers
- Chants
- “get them out” and “deport, deport, deport”
- Police action
- Asylum seekers relocated for their own safety
- Trigger
- Weeks of protest over plans to turn RAF Barnham into a major asylum accommodation site
- Town council
- Unanimous opposition to the RAF Barnham plan
- Home Office statement
- “Violence and disorder are never acceptable” — did not mention targeting of asylum seekers
- Thetford population
- 25,000
Quotes
Home Office spokesperson
Official representative of the UK Home Office
“I do not know the immigration status of the people placed in these properties or their legal status, but I do know they are human beings that must be afforded the same rights that we all expect in this country.”
easterneye.biz
“The concerns of communities are central to our immigration reforms. However, violence and disorder are never acceptable.”
easterneye.biz
Sources
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