“It makes me sad. We left when our country had the troubles so we should have in this world… the humanity”.
We’re sitting in a cafe in Tamworth and Noor, 19, is explaining how it feels to know there are people in the town who don’t want him here.
Noor is from Afghanistan and came to the UK on a small boat.
The cafe is close to the asylum hotel where he’s staying.
He’s agreed to come along with four other men from the hotel to speak to locals about the concern in the town over the Staffordshire hotel being used to house asylum seekers.
There was a peaceful demonstration outside the hotel last month. But last year, a protest here turned ugly. Windows were smashed, petrol bombs thrown, and part of the hotel was set alight.
Among the locals in the cafe is Tom, 25, who reveals he was at both protests.
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He says he was persuaded to go by friends and explains to the group why they decided to go.
“They were annoyed, angry, fuming that the government had let them [asylum seekers] live in a hotel,” he says.
Noor, who speaks the best English of the asylum seekers in the group, replies: “What did we do wrong?”
“Your government accepts us as asylum seekers,” he continues.
Tom thinks. “I’m more annoyed with the government than you guys,” he tells them.
‘A place to get the golden ticket’
Noor explains to the group how he ended up in the UK. He left Afghanistan four years ago with his family but they were separated on the journey. He doesn’t know where they are.
Heather, a 29-year-old local accountant, speaks up.
“When people protest, I’m like, why don’t you protest near the government?” she asks. “Why don’t you take your issue to them rather than being outside the hotel?”
“Those asylum seekers aren’t going to change the policy at all,” she adds. “It’s just going to make them fearful.”
Each of the locals in the cafe has their own take on why some don’t like the asylum seekers living in their town.
“I think they feel like they’re living better than the British people, some of them, and it’s almost like they feel offended,” says Andrew, 47.
“Some people in the UK see how the asylum seekers are coming over to Britain because they see it as a place to get the golden ticket,” he adds.
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Heather agrees. She says the NHS is a draw and the UK also has “different border control regulations that might be seen as weaker than in some other countries”.
“You get to stay in a hotel,” she tells the asylum seekers. “You get the free health care. And so I think that’s why they’re a little bit annoyed.”
Noor replies: “One thing I should tell you is that when we cross the English Channel, it means we don’t care about our life. It’s very dangerous.”
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I’m keen to know why they chose to come to Britain. Noor tells the group it’s because he has a relative here and speaks the language.
Azim, 22, who is also from Afghanistan, says he came here because people in the UK “have respect to Islam”.
He also has a family member here.
I ask them if they could have claimed asylum in France, but Noor says his “only hope was England”.
He says it’s “better for education” here. All the men agree it’s seen as the better place to come.
The conversation moves to the protests this summer which began in Epping, Essex, after an asylum seeker there was charged with sexually assaulting a schoolgirl – an offence he has now been convicted of.
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Noor believes British people have a right to be angry about that. He tells the group he believes that asylum seekers who commit crimes “should get back to their country”.
“We also [do] not support them,” he says.
Over the course of the meeting, the mood becomes more relaxed. People with different views find some common ground.
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Noor tells the group that if things improve in Afghanistan he would like to go back there one day.
If not, he hopes he’ll stay in the UK and earn enough to repay in taxes the bill for the hotel he’s staying in now.
It has been a frank exchange. Some in this town will never want asylum seekers here and people like Noor and Azim know it.
But they were placed here by the Home Office and can only wait until their asylum claims are processed.
