Don't send our classmate back

March 13, 2009

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Tony Lola

CLASSMATES of a nine-year-old boy are fighting to stop his deportation to Africa, where he fears he will be jailed.

Tony Lola fled to Manchester after being locked up by police in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) because of his parents’ political activities.

He joined his mother Mireille in Britain in 2005 – three years after she escaped the DRC.

Tony, a pupil at Didsbury C of E Primary, says he spent several months in prison.

He was eventually released and relatives sent him to Britain.

The family, who live in Burnage, have applied to the Home Office for permission to stay.

Immigration officials believe their story but say the central African state is generally safe for political activists.

But children and teachers have taken up their classmate’s fight to stay in the country.

They have set up an internet petition and two music teachers have written a song about Tony and Mireille’s plight, which they plan to release.

The pair are submitting a new bid to stay in Britain and the Home Office says it will review the case.

The country has been split by a conflict with neighbouring states, which has so far claimed three million lives.

Tony, whose activist father Papy is under arrest in the DRC, now feels more at home in Manchester. He said: “I was happy to be here because I was with my mum and I felt safe.”

Headteacher Matt Whitehead added: “Everyone in the school is very angry about the attempts to send Tony back because they have heard from him directly about the dangers in his home country.”

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Bigkecks (13/03/2009 at 15:58)

I really do feel for the young lad but when does it end??

Why is it always England that has to mediate and play mummy and daddy to every single polital refugee from war ravaged countries

Im a human, Im not going to see another person suffer that does not deserve it but we are being taken for granted

France is 4 times the size, Germany is more than capable of taking some, Spain has free space galore

Why us?

EVERY SINGLE TIME?

Peregrine Spanswick (13/03/2009 at 16:20)

Tugs at the heartstrings just as these stories are supposed to do, but Bigkecks has a point.

andanotherthing, Mcr (13/03/2009 at 16:42)

I object to using a child like this.

But the thing is I could not send him back while there is the slightest risk. Tony will no doubt prove to be an exemplary pupil and grow in to a fine young man given the option. The very same options our own kids seem to throw back in our faces.

Rather than the always, all or nothing, could we not FOSTER people in this situation...We will look after you but you must return when it is safe for you to do so. And actually do something posite.?

andanotherthing, Mcr (13/03/2009 at 16:59)

Sorry, Positive.

Ace Shakespeare , manchester (13/03/2009 at 17:13)

why dont these people seek asylem elsewhere "Answer is they dont get free everything especially a free legal team and right to appeal" sorry but when will it stop,we have difficult times finding money for our kids and elderly.sorry? but the world is a very bad place to live.We have to many people trying bto get into britain for "free everything" but its a never ending .

andanotherthing, Mcr (13/03/2009 at 17:13)

Bigecks

Lets say France, or Germany allow residence. Then He becomes a citizen of either country. He now has the right to come to Britain under european law. Daft isn't it.

Come-On-City. Manchester. (13/03/2009 at 17:52)

Bigkecks wrote:

"Why is it always England that has to mediate and play mummy and daddy to every single polital refugee from war ravaged countries - France is 4 times the size, Germany is more than capable of taking some, Spain has free space galore. Why us? EVERY SINGLE TIME? "

Despite what sections of the media would have you believe it is not 'us' every single time.
Feast your eyes on this UN immigration report: scroll down to the graph on page 3.

www.un.org/esa/population/publications/migration/UN_Migrant_Stock_Documentation_2005.pdf

France and Germany take more numbers of migrants, including refugees than the UK. So do Russia, Canada, the Ukraine and Saudi Arabia. Spain and Australia take not much less than us.

Are there problems with immigrant policies? Of course there are, I do believe the country lets in more migrants workers than the country actually needs and this is a corporate led policy to drive down wages. However this is not just a British problem, but a European one - so it isn't always just England that plays 'mummy and daddy' as you say - although Im not sure what you mean by that.

As for this kid, what purpose would it serve to kick out a bright young kid back to where his family may be imprisoned again? Except to meet the hardline wishes of a few members on this site so they can beat their chests shouting 'England for the English!'

Mrs Pierlejewski, East Didsbury (13/03/2009 at 18:10)

While I understand that as a country we cannot open our arms to all the troubled children of the world, I do believe that children seeking asylum need to be treated fairly. The home office's decision to send failed asylum seekers back to DR Congo because it is now "safe" is ludicrous. Asylum seeker children in Britain face being incarcerated at detention centres for many weeks. The children's comissioner, Al Aynsley-Green, described treatment of children at Yarl's Wood as "an inhuman process". Are we so selfish as a nation that we can treat these children without humanity? Children like Tony need to be given a chance to survive. Would any of us do any thing different if our own children were imprisoned? Even Jesus Christ's parents saught asylum in Egypt after the slaughter of the innocents. Would we turn Him away too?

RT, UK (14/03/2009 at 02:37)

Good Lesson for the Children of this School to have no faith in legal processes and
decisions made by the top level government department in such matters.

Should 9 year old children be brought into this fight by their School?

I think not...

waywardweastie (14/03/2009 at 02:40)

Get a grip you lot,he is a better young man than half of the scum wandering around the streets of the UK on any given day.
If he is sent back to that hellhole and the scroats have full rights to devastate the streets of England it will be the last day I ever set foot on that sorry sad soil.

PW, Manchester (14/03/2009 at 09:06)

waywardweastie has a good point. You often see foreign kids - African, Polish, Latvian or whatever, who have excellent manners, and the right attitude to better themselves. They know the UK is a good thing for them, and must be baffled to see how so many of the natives are so lazy, uncouth and uneducated, with no will nor impetus to improve their own standing. I would do a straight swap for them tomorrow, although I feel that would only add to the problems of those countries abroad.

Nick M, Didsbury (14/03/2009 at 09:27)

I think it is all too easy to sit in the relative safety and security of England and to mock and critique the attempts of a school and church community to help an asylum seeker. There are indeed many problems with our country's immigration policies but the most obvious one to me at the moment is our government's desire to send a nine year old boy back to a country where as a six year old he was imprisoned because of his parent's political views. Of course our government claim the Congo is now safe - try telling that to the people who have already been forced to return only to be arrested by the Congolese authorities as they get off the plane. Safe? Would you want your nine year old child/grandchild/school mate to risk it? This isn't about big immigration ideas or macro political policies, it's about a nine year old boy at grave risk and his friends (young and old) who simply want to protect him.

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