A crowd of around 200-300 people came together this morning outside Vulcan House, the Home Office building in Sheffield, to protest against the deportation of asylum seekers to Zimbabwe.
The demo was organised by SYMAAG following the recent detention in Sheffield of two asylum seekers who were threatened with imminent return to Zimbabwe despite the recent reports of violence and human rights violations against people opposed to the current Zimbabwean government's policies. Other Zimbabwean asylum seekers have been detained elsewhere in the UK.
The demonstration was timed to support more asylum seekers reporting in to the Home Office at Vulcan House and fearing that they might also be taken into detention and deported.
SYMAAG said "SYMAAG member Marian Machekanyanga described the Zimbabwean army going house to house to identify, beat, detain, sometimes kill opposition activists and others critical of the government, of children shot in the street, internet access shut down and phone calls monitored. The new Zimbabwean government of Emerson Mnangagwa seems every bit as repressive as Robert Mugabe’s.