News / asylum seekers
‘Increasingly precarious’ situation for ‘cut off’ asylum seekers
A group of asylum seekers housed in north Somerset are “cut off from shops, people, and asylum seeker services”, local residents claim.
Displaced from their homes, over 100 young single men have been living in the Holiday Inn by Bristol Airport since May.
The asylum seekers, who are from Sudan, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Somalia, take public transport from the hotel to Bristol for medical or legal appointments and to attend college classes.
is needed now More than ever
Fourteen miles from Bristol with no footpath or pedestrian access, they wait by the A38 for a Stagecoach West bus to reach the city from their accommodation which has been branded unfit by charity Trigger.
Can you help? The Avon and Somerset Police have told me that ‘racism is not a crime.’ @StagecoachSW falcon service has stopped picking up black and brown men at a certain bus stop near me. The drivers accept white passengers. This is apartheid in action. 1/4
— Angie Bual (@angiebual) October 2, 2022
Allegations surfaced on Monday by the community arts charity’s creative director and Mendips resident Angie Bual, who said the same group of displaced people were the targets of racism from Stagecoach’s Falcon bus drivers.
“The drivers accept white passengers. This is apartheid in action,” she wrote.
Bual added one driver said: “I don’t take refugees”, and another allegedly refused to allow some on the bus after they offered £20 to pay for four tickets instead of the exact change.
But Stagecoach West said there was no evidence of racism, although police recorded a hate incident relating to one dispute.
A spokesperson said: “We have a proud and strong commitment to equality and helping people right across our community, and we do not tolerate discrimination of any kind.”
Police logged an incident on September 10 as a hate incident, but Stagecoach said they have found no evidence to support any allegations – photo: Holiday Inn
Trigger is now calling on Stagecoach to address the allegations of racism and looking to source legal support and improved transport links for the men housed at the Holiday Inn.
Their fundraiser reads: “We are residents local to this area, but we are also CEOs of a charity that creates work responding to major issues of our time.
“We create work that is meant for everyone, and we believe that all communities should have equal access to free public art and public services such as transport.
“There are no other refugee rights organisations in North Somerset, so we are taking action.”
To make donations to fund transport provision, legal advice and access to services, visit the crowdfunder.
Main photo: Angie Bual
Read next:
- The ‘sisterhood’ providing a safe space for refugee women in Bristol
- Rebellious footballers and poll tax protesters take centre stage at 10th Bristol Radical Film Festival
- ‘The case of Bristol Airport exposes the gaping flaw in national planning guidance’
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