Hundreds turned out for a hastily-organised vigil in Brighton on 25 January in solidarity with kids who the media reported have gone missing from local hotels.
Police have said that as many as 137 under-18s have been lost from the system. And 76 are still reported as missing from a hotel in Hove. According to media reports they are mostly Albanian boys.
What is certain is that the authorities charged with their care have no idea where they are or if they are safe; and that the Government, immigration authorities and the local Green-led Council have completely failed to care for these vulnerable young people. The Government has admitted reports of gangmasters turning up and abducting kids, but it appears it has done nothing about it.
Demonstrators called for an end to putting kids in hotel accommodation (which, according to government policy, is only a stopgap before them coming under local authority care). Speakers blamed the “hostile environment” created by the Tory Government, and the lack of safe, legal routes for foreign nationals and asylum seekers to come to the UK. We chanted that “refugees are welcome here” and that when refugees are failed or targeted we will “fight back”.
The council Labour group has called for an emergency council meeting to discuss the issue and what to do about it. It has also called for an urgent enquiry. The local Argus newspaper quoted John Allcock and Carmen Appich, co-leaders of the Labour group on the council, as saying: “We’ve written to the council CEO requesting an urgent extraordinary council meeting to discuss Labour’s plans to immediately safeguard these very vulnerable children.
“We want children out of this hotel and into care placements immediately. We want the missing children found, and we want a review into how any of this scandalous crisis was allowed to happen despite our repeated warnings”.
• Further protests have been called on 2 February in London (Home Office, 2 Marsham St, SW1P 4DF, 6pm) and Brighton (Hove Town Hall, 4pm).
Comments?We welcome replies, corrections and debate pieces. Contact us