Hongkongers in UK spared from unrest

Mark O'Neill August 11, 2024 21:52

Like everyone else in Britain, the Hong Kong migrants watched with fear and apprehension as anti-immigration rioters attacked police in many cities and broke into a hotel housing asylum seekers.
Last Tuesday the Hong Kong government issued an “amber outbound travel alert: “residents who intend to visit the country or are already there should monitor the situation, exercise caution, attend to personal safety and avoid large gatherings,” it said. The Chinese embassy in London opened a 24-hour consular protection hotline.

So far the Hong Kongers there have been spared, with no reports of attacks or injuries. Writing on social media, they said that the protests were against Muslims and illegal immigrants. “We understand their opposition to illegal immigrants,” one wrote. “Hong Kong people holding BNO passports have not been greatly impacted.”

But another wrote: “the far right people consider that we are also immigrants. They see only black and white.”

The worst rioting in a decade broke out after three young girls were murdered in the northwest town of Southport on July 29. Fake news on social media said that the murderer was a Muslim asylum seeker. In fact, he was a young man born in UK to parents from Rwanda.

Since then, unrest has spread to 23 cities, most in the north and in poor areas. Seven of the 10 most deprived areas of Britain witnessed riots – Blackpool, Middlesborough, Liverpool, Hartlepool, Hull, Manchester and Blackburn. These seven are home to some of the highest numbers of asylum seekers receiving government support and accommodation per capita of the population.

According to the British police, as of Thursday, officers had made 483 arrests and more than 150 charges have been brought, while several forces have conducted “dawn raids” against individuals suspected of taking part.

At one of the protests in Liverpool, a middle-aged woman said: “we are not fascists. We simply want illegal immigration to stop.”

The impact on HK migrants has been to restrict their travel, to avoid visiting places hit by the protests and to work more from home if permitted by their employers. They have stayed more at home or close to home.

Most HK people who have moved to the UK do not live in the affected cities, which offer limited economic opportunities. They prefer locations in the wealthier centre and south of England, several with “little Hong Kongs” – concentration of migrants – such as St Albans, Reading, Sutton and Nottingham.

Most HK people live discreetly and do not stand out. If they have a religion, it is not Islam but Christianity or Buddhism. They are in Britain legally, through their BNO passport. Many possess their own home, meaning that they live in middle class areas. The protests are concentrated in poor and working class neighbourhoods.

The migrants enjoy a good reputation among the British public as well behaved, hard working and bringing assets, skills and entrepreneurial spirit to the country.

The protests reflect a widespread sentiment in Britain. In the general election on July 4, Reform UK campaigned on a platform against immigration. It won four million votes, or 14 per cent of the total cast. But, because of the country’s first-past-the-post system, it won a single seat, Nigel Farage, the party leader.

When the riots broke out, Farage was visiting Hong Kong, where he stayed at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. His spokesman said that, while the British Parliament was in recess, he was making an important family visit. He had returned to Britain by Tuesday, he said.

Opposition to immigration was one of the main reasons why the British public in 2016 voted to leave the European Union. But net migration rose to a record high of 764,000 in 2022, falling to 685,000 last year.

According to the Home Office, in the year that ended March 2024, there were 38,546 illegal arrivals, 28 per cent fewer than in the previous year. Of these, and 81 per cent of these arrived by small boats. As of March this year, about 100,000 were seeking asylum in Britain.

The new Labour and the previous Conservative have promised to reduce the number of both legal and illegal immigrants but have been unable to. The process of expulsion is long and complicated, with somc countries refusing to take back their nationals and lengthy legal procedures to be completed.

A YouGov poll published on Wednesday said that 51 per cent of British people said that immigration was the most important national issue, ranking top. Solving it will be much more difficult for the new government than arresting those who committed violence against the police.

For the time being at least, Hong Kong migrants in UK have nothing to fear.

Mark O'Neill

A Hong Kong-based writer, teacher and speaker.