An overspill town in rural East Anglia is suddenly a host to migrant workers - what has been the reaction so far?
The locals
Thetford, during the 1990s was characterized by being a young town with above average percentages of youth and children. It was also a new working-class town with high percentages of manual workers, and fewer resident managers, according to the Market Towns Project in 1998.
It was also noted for having higher than the East Anglian average levels of social and health problems. Since the expansion out of London, one or two generations had been born in the town, but many retained a London Thetford identity. Previous migrations from Asia and the Caribbean had almost totally bypassed the town and the surrounding area. For example, the 2001 Census records that 97% of the town population belonged to the white ethnic group. Thetford, a predominately white working class overspill town, could therefore hardly be described as being a developed cultural melting pot. What has it made of the arrival of the migrants during the past nine years?
Scare Stories
A number of stories have circulated within the host community. The most popular was that English were not welcome in the Portuguese cafés or pubs. The stories claimed that when English entered, they received bad service, and were stared at menacingly by the Portuguese patrons. One very popular story, that even lead to a local newspaper enquiry, claimed that one Portuguese café in Thetford had a sign up saying No Whites. This is rather amusing considering the majority of Portuguese would consider themselves to be white. But of course it was not funny, as it caused so much harm to relationships between the English and Portuguese. These myths continued to survive because they were self-perpetuating - people, afraid of being badly treated didn't enter and find out the truth for themselves, or else they entered with a critical eye looking for fault.
I can state that after many visits to the Red Lion, Daniellas, and to other cafés in Thetford, Great Yarmouth, East Dereham, Peterborough, and Swaffham, that I have personally not seen any bad treatment of myself or of any English patrons based on nationality etc. I am very pleased to report that by 2006, these barriers do finally seem to be breaking down in Thetford, and in particular, both the Red Lion and Daniellas have many English, as well as Portuguese patrons.
Early Troubles
It is worth noting that the following catalogue of incidents are not wholly representative of host-migrant relations in the Thetford area. Recent surveys of local migrants indicate that as a whole, they have not felt threatened or disliked by the host population. As a whole, I would say that relations are getting better. The catalogue of incidents that follows were largely conducted by a small number of individuals, and within the earlier phases of the migration. Since the Red Lion incident, there has been a desire by many to 'move on'. The example of the World Cup match during 2006, suggests that tensions between the communities have since diminished. Thetford appears to have grown up, and following its award of Growth Point Status in 2006, is braced to become a more confident multicultural centre of East Anglia.
There were a number of assaults on Portuguese migrants across Norfolk. Not all of these attacks were necessarily racially motivated, but it was a phenomena that was not ignored by the authorities. On the 10th March 2003, three men were jailed over an racially motivated assault that was captured on CCTV in Great Yarmouth. On the 9th March 2004, seven people were jailed after an attack on a Portuguese man was captured on CCTV in Thetford. In September 2004, A 39-year-old Portuguese man suffered a fractured cheekbone, during a violent racially-motivated attack in East Dereham. On the 25th February 2005, the EDP reported on an attack in Watton norfolk, that the Police were treating as racially motivated. The 43 year old male Portuguese victim lost two teeth, and suffered a broken cheekbone. There were further assaults reported on Portuguese in Great Yarmouth and Norwich.
Racism against Portuguese and other migrants has been expressed in other ways. For example, in June 2004, vandals sprayed go home Portuguese across a road in East Dereham. Posters promoting a forthcoming Portuguese market in Thetford, were torn down by vandals in November 2004. A survey looking at the problems of racism and exploitation of migrant communities, was commissioned by local authorities and the Norfolk Constabulary. The survey reports were read out at a special conference in June 2004.
Apparent ethnic tensions in Thetford have not only manifested themselves as attacks on Portuguese. In September 2005, there were two street-fights between locals and Latvians on the Abbey housing estate. During the first incident, locals also attacked a police car that arrived to rescue two East Europeans from the angry mob. Unlike the family based Portuguese, the East European migrants are usually young single people, mainly male, and this appears to have heightened the tensions. A number of people were arrested or charged since the two fights, and the Police increased patrols on the estate. A Dispersal Order was later issued for the estate by the Police, however, this was lifted in July 2006.
The Red Lion Siege
The Red Lion was a Portuguese-managed pub located on Thetford market-place. For some time it was popular not only with the Portuguese community, but also with other migrants and some English. On 24th June 2004, England were due to play against the home team in the Portugal hosted Euro 2004 Football tournament. Rumours had circulated throughout the town and the surrounding area for days about what might happen in the town, if Portugal were to knock England out of the tournament.
The day of the match arrived, and the Red Lion was a centre of activity. Portuguese football supporters started celebrating the forthcoming game early in the day. Occasionally, English supporters - some freshly returned from the tournament in Portugal, came into the pub to toast the game with the Portuguese supporters - there was a friendly atmosphere, local TV cameras came into the pub to film the celebrations and it looked as though there may be no trouble after all. Portuguese football fans were joined by a smaller group of English fans, and the game commenced.
Following a draw after extra-time, Portugal knocked out England with in a penalty shoot out. A short while later, trouble started in the town. A mob of an estimated 200 to 300 English gathered around the pub and began hurling abuse, throwing stones into windows, and tried kicking down the door. Only a small number of Police were present, and they could do little but monitor the situation, arrest the worst offenders, and wait for back up. One policewoman was injured. Pub security closed the doors and refused to let anyone out. There were women and children in the pub - such was the Portuguese underestimation of the potential trouble, that whole families had gone to the pub to watch the match. Eventually Police reinforcements turned up, the mob was dispersed, and the terrified Red Lion patrons were escorted out.
The Red lion in Thetford was not the only incident that evening in Norfolk. A group of five Portuguese men and women, with one Englishman were attacked in Norwich. The attackers shouted racist insults, and injured four of them.
News of the 'riots' spread over the World by Internet and satellite television. Disgust was expressed by community leaders, and by English football fans throughout the Country. A number of people were charged after the Red Lion incident, following public pleas to name the rioters. Sixteen people have recently been sent to Crown Court.
Integration
There have been concerted efforts at improving relationships between the two communities since the Red Lion incident. The Mayor of Thetford publicly voiced his shame over the incident, and invited the townspeople to use the Portuguese managed cafés and facilities. Churches in Norfolk have launched a manifesto aimed at improving integration.
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The Watton Bomb! - August 2005 On the day that 10 men were sentenced to prison for their part in the Red Lion Seige, a primitive explosive device went off in a block of flats in the nearby market town of Watton. The flats were inhabited mainly by Portuguese nationals, and the Police are treating it as a racist attack. |
The efforts are not all one way. The owners of the Daniellas café have made great efforts to try and promote dialogue between English and Portuguese speakers. They have for example, organised a local Portuguese football team, that plays friendly matches against other local teams. They have also made efforts to encourage English to use their café and Portuguese goods shop. They also took part in organising a Portuguese Market in Thetford during November 2004. The Portuguese Market was a great success, and was attended by over 1,000 people. Daniellas have gone further, and have also supported non-Portuguese events such as a Thetford Family Day.
The Keystone Trust is a local development trust that has been working to identify the needs of the Thetford area, including those of the Portuguese community. its Equalities Team has for example, worked alongside other organisations to produce a booklet, published in both English and Portuguese, that acts as a guide to local information, services, laws, etc. This booklet hopefully, will help migrants avoid exploitation by 'third parties', and will help local agencies by removing cultural stumbling blocks. For example, there have previously been cases of migrants calling emergency services for minor problems, because of confusion over the way that our health services work here.
On 17th November 2005, the Charles Burrell High School in Thetford hosted an anti-racism day during which pupils explored themes of racism. An organiser of the event stated that "Having a theme like this would be valuable in any school in the country. For Thetford it is even more important as Thetford is becoming more multi-cultural, with the influx of Portuguese and Eastern European students. This is a good time to promote this type of awareness." (Source EDP24).
Despite the doubts from some quarters, integration between the host and Portuguese migrant community is taking place. Many of the Portuguese families that have arrived are clearly here to settle. There are now a number of Anglo-Portuguese couples, marriages, and families in the town. English language skills have also increased amongst the migrant population. Many of the children of the immigrants attend local schools, and have bilingual skills.
World Cup 2006 - A Better Example!
Two years after the Red Lion Riot, The English Football Team were set to play Portugal again, this time in the World Cup Tournament. Once again, England lost the match during a penalty shootout. However, this time, there was no trouble in Thetford, and local newspapers even reported a carnival-like atmosphere between fans in the town centre. Although there was trouble again in the Channel Island of Jersey - no trouble was reported in Thetford. During the World Cup tournament, the managers of the Red Lion, local woman Claire West, and Benvindo Ramos, from Lisbon, were married at Thetford Grammar School on July 8th. For many people, this happy event symbolised a certain coming together of the communities.