{"id":312549,"date":"2025-08-02T18:19:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T18:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/312549\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T18:19:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T18:19:18","slug":"my-grandparents-fled-hitler-today-in-london-someone-screamed-filth-in-my-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/312549\/","title":{"rendered":"My grandparents fled Hitler, today in London someone screamed ‘filth’ in my face"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barrister, author and London Islington resident David Renton, 52, attended the counter-demo outside London\u2019s Thistle City Barbican Hotel organised by Islington Community Independents, today.<\/p>\n

17:59, 02 Aug 2025Updated 18:47, 02 Aug 2025<\/p>\n

\"ProtestersProtesters with Stand Up To Racism gather outside the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in London, which houses asylum seekers. (Image: PA)<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I was part of the 1500-strong crowd in Islington, which gathered to defend the refugees living in the Thistle City Barbican hotel in north London against protesters.<\/a><\/p>\n

I went because, although I\u2019m white and British. I\u2019m also the grandchild of refugees:<\/a> people who had to hide their documents beneath the railway seats as they fled from Hitler. I talked to other people there. Paul Murphy brought his two choirs,<\/a> The Mixed Up Chorus and Sing For Freedom. Both choirs have included singers that were refugees staying at this hotel. Paul says he came \u201cTo defend refugees. To stop the far right.\u201d<\/p>\n

It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves has told MPs that asylum hotel use will end by the end of this Parliament.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"BarristerBarrister and author David Renton attended the protest to protect refugees(Image: David Renton)<\/p>\n

Cathy Bird, a minister for Union Chapel, said, \u201cBritain is a welcoming country. The people who come here are fleeing from wars. In their position, we\u2019d do the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another supporter who didn’t want to give her name said, \u201cThis has always been a union area, for people who worked in the print shops at Fleet Street. Generations of people have settled here, Italians in Clerkenwell, the Bangladeshis more recently. We won\u2019t let the racists divide us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CounterCounter protesters from Stand Up To Racism gather outside the Barbican Thistle Hotel housing migrants on August 2, 2025 in London,(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

While on our peaceful march, one angry woman on the other side screamed in my face, \u201cYou\u2019re Filth, You\u2019re Filth.\u201d I wasn’t shocked by her clear rage-filled hate, but I am at a loss understanding why you would shout at someone just because they disagree with you?<\/p>\n

I tried speaking to one Far Right protester. Michael, told me, \u201cthe refugees aren\u2019t law abiding.\u201d I said I thought his fears were exaggerated. We didn\u2019t agree.<\/p>\n

One concession Michael made was that he could understand that it must be awful for the men being made to stay in the hotels, often for years, while the home office decides how to process their refugee applications.<\/p>\n

Some media outlets have reported that people who are living in hotels waiting for their asylum claims to be processed, who are banned from working, have been working as delivery drivers. This rhetoric plays exactly into the hands of Far Right agitators.<\/p>\n

\"FlyerFlyer for today’s counter demo at Thistle City Barbican, Saturday 2nd August 2025<\/p>\n

Migrants want to work but the government <\/a>\u2013 both Tories and Labour \u2013 have insisted that asylum seekers can\u2019t. \u201cI don\u2019t mind if they do Uber Eats,\u201d Michael told me. What he means is that, in any sensible system, we\u2019d be welcoming refugees’ desire to work, finding them jobs. He\u2019s right on that.<\/p>\n

But it goes further than he realises. Michael could accept refugees if they\u2019d do hard, low-paid jobs. I respect anyone who does that work, but it shouldn\u2019t be the limit. Many of the refugees are skilled people. If we did let them work, soon we\u2019d realise that many of them have spent years back home training as doctors, nurses, teachers. They aren\u2019t just grunt labour, they\u2019re desperate to show us their talents, if only we\u2019d let them.<\/p>\n

The real danger isn’t the people in this hotel; it\u2019s racist outsiders coming to my town to stir up hate.<\/p>\n

David is author of The New Authoritarians Convergence on the Right published by Pluto Press. Available at https:\/\/www.plutobooks.com and https:\/\/www.amazon.co.u<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barrister, author and London Islington resident David Renton, 52, attended the counter-demo outside London\u2019s Thistle City Barbican Hotel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,528,257,114050,285,41909,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-312549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-labour-party","12":"tag-london","13":"tag-paul-murphy","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-railways","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114960555457653042","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}