Polish president Andrzej Duda has asked Church leaders in England to help protect Polish migrants from xenophobic violence and abuse.
He wrote to say that reports of serious attacks on migrants “have caused deep concerns to the Polish nation in general, and to myself in person”.
Such attacks included the murder of Arkadiusz Jozwik, 40, who was beaten to death in Harlow last month.
Mr Duda urged Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby, to do whatever they could at the parish level to prevent such violence.
In both letters, the president called for a “constructive effort” for local parishes “to alleviate the adverse consequences of intolerance and xenophobia, including what appears to be a clear instance of aversion and animosity toward Poles.
“I am sure Your Eminence will agree that it is of utmost importance that these incidents do not occur again, as they have a potential of creating a formidable ridge between the Polish and English people,” Mr Duda wrote in his letter to Cardinal Nichols. “This could, in turn, lead to the erosion of the local community, characterised by a genuinely positive presence of Poles in England,” he said, adding that Poles had made a huge contribution to the socio-economic condition of Britain. “Only through mutual understanding and consideration for one another can a thriving community be achieved,” he said.
Since Poland joined the European Union in 2004 about 800,000 Poles have migrated to Britain. After Britain voted to leave the European Union on June 23, police reported a spike in so-called “hate crimes”.
Between June 16 and June 30, there were 3,000 such crimes, it was reported – a 42 per cent increase over the same period in 2015. The peak day for offences was June 25, when 289 alleged crimes of a xenophobic or racist nature were committed.
These included an arson attack on a Polish property in Plymouth and the vandalism of buildings of a Polish social and cultural association in west London.
In Wigan and Cambridge, laminated cards reading “No Polish vermin” in both English and Polish were pushed through the letterboxes of the homes of some migrants. A man was arrested for painting a swastika on the door of a business in Shrewsbury, and at a rally in Newcastle, nationalists unfurled a banner that said: “Stop Immigration, Start Repatriation.”
Cardinal Nichols denounced the intolerance, saying: “This upsurge of racism, of hatred toward others, is something we must not tolerate … We have to say this is simply not acceptable in a humane society, and it should never be provoked or promoted. We need to grasp again our basic sense of purpose: in living together, creating together and fashioning a society.”
Jakub Krupa, a trustee of London’s Polish Social and Cultural Association, which was vandalised after the referendum, said he believed most people who voted to leave the EU had “perfectly noble and good reasons”.
But, he said, a small minority of people with xenophobic or racist views had been emboldened by the result because they wrongly concluded the public shared their opinions.
Officials at the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle are appealing for volunteers to house rejected asylum seekers.
The diocesan Justice and Peace Co-ordinating Council is looking for Catholics to put up homeless asylum seekers temporarily. The charity Action Foundation said more than 300 people in Newcastle had been refused asylum yet were unable to return home because of safety fears.
Most sleep rough and many women are forced into prostitution.
The bishops’ agency Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN) has condemned government plans to build a border wall at Calais. The £1.9 million wall was announced last week by immigration minister Robert Goodwill. It is intended to stop migrants from boarding vehicles in order to enter Britain.
CSAN, which is part of the Caritas international network, said it was “deeply concerned” by the announcement.
In a statement, the charity said: “We recognise the right of states to secure their borders but we believe that investing more money in security at the port and Channel Tunnel will not provide a long-term solution to the growing problems at Calais.”
The statement argued that a response to the crisis in the Calais refugee camp needs to focus on human dignity rather than on “building yet more fortifications”.
CSAN has worked with the French arm of Caritas, Secours Catholique, to send material help to refugees in the “Jungle” camp. It has also collaborated with Seeking Sanctuary, a Kent-based charity which collects donations and organises their delivery to the camp.
CSAN says charities working in the camp “have reported an extraordinary response to their calls for donations and aid to be sent to Calais, which is evidence of the continuing resolution among the British and French people to see the residents of the camp treated with dignity.”
Up to 10,000 migrants are living in the camp, most of them surviving on one meal a day.
Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said the wall would be a “poor use of taxpayers’ money”. Burnett said that funds “would be much better spent on increasing security along the approach roads”.
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