BHHRG

In November 1997 violent confrontations broke out between between pro- and anti-immigration groups in Dover after a summer in which several hundred Czech and Slovak gypsies had arrived in the town seeking political asylum. Since then the situation has calmed down only to re-ignite alarmingly on the evenings of 13th and 14th August when several white youths were attacked with Stanley knives by groups of migrant youths at a local funfair and outside a petrol station in Dover. Some of the injuries sustained were severe _ in one case a white youth needed 175 stitches. Women are not immune: a 13-year-old girl had 48 stitches after being caught up in the attack.
It seems that local boys had taunted the foreigners. However, many saw the incident as a dangerous scenario that had been in the making for some time. Dover is a small, impoverished port of 40,000 people. The presence of less than 1000 migrants in the town at any one time where they are housed in bed and breakfast accommodation should pass unnoticed. This is not the case: the migrants are seen as compounding the problems of blight and unemployment that disfigure this coastal town. Competition between young males from the town and abroad for the attention of girls at the town’s few entertainment centres also seems to promote tensions.
Most are accommodated along Folkestone Road one of the main thoroughfares out of the town where an atmosphere of poverty and menace are palpable. It is hard to see how life in these dismal boarding houses can be preferable to the reception centres provided by the Italians. But the British are unlikely to follow this path. During what became known as the 'Great Storm' in 1987 a boat commandeered by the Home Office to house asylum seekers broke from its moorings. No-one was hurt but it was regarded as scandalous that asylum-seekers should be so housed and since then the experiment has been abandoned. (Britain still has two centers where asylum-seekers who officials fear might abscond are confined, unlike the sort of open reception centers housing migrants in Italy and France.)
The authorities are sensitive about the events of that August weekend. It was impossible to find out the nationality of the perpetrators of the funfair violence either from the national press or local officials. On the one hand, the authorities (and the police in particular) are afraid of being labeled 'racist' and at the national level there is unease that foreign policy adventures like Kosovo could all too soon be seen as the cause of an influx of young, male immigrants who are, ultimately, the main cause of any trouble that occurs not only in Dover but also in other parts of the country.
Incitement or Freedom of speech?
The situation is highlighted by the position of Nick Hudson, editor of the local newspaper. He has covered the immigration issue since 1997 with forthright - some allege inflammatory -commentary on the impact of the unprecedented influx on the area in the twin local papers The Folkestone Herald and its sister paper the Dover Express. Hudson himself was memorably quoted as referring to the refugees in Dover as "human sewage" a remark which he refuses to disown but which has come back to haunt him.
He claims to have been "gagged" by the papers' proprietors, even during the August events. Finally, angry letters from local people were printed presumably because of the outcry over the August violence. Hudson says that the local police authorities would dearly like to charge him for racist offences - the local MP, Gwyn Prosser has complained to the police about him twice and he has already been threatened with prosecution under s.19 of the Public Order Act. Ironically, Hudson himself has been the victim of intimidation with threatening phone calls and bricks thrown through his windows.
Obviously, freedom of speech is very much at issue here. No doubt, the authorities would say they have to play a careful balancing act between preserving civil order and allowing the press to report freely on local concerns like immigration. However, it may not be wise to persistently push the issue under the carpet: there are many violent and disaffected British youths who may take matters into their own hands and who would find support from local, normally law abiding people who feel they have no other outlet for their concerns.
Outsiders have tried to exploit the local tensions. Both the racist National Front and the radical Left-wing Anti-Nazi League have staged demonstrations in Dover. The danger of renewed confrontation in the streets cannot be ruled out though the Home Secretary has used his powers under the Public Order Act to ban demonstrations in Dover for three months.