Timeline of Events

THANET TIMELINE

(NB - it is important to remember that many stakeholders stressed the fact that the local reality in Margate could not be wholly separated from the reality in other towns in Kent, especially Dover; that was the position of most, especially those whose work cuts across several districts and towns in Kent, such as KRAN and Migrant Helpline)

1950s/1960s - Decline in Tourism leads to hotel closures

1981 - Retired population in Thanet (28%) much higher than national average (18%)

Aug 1993 - Thanet granted 'Assisted Area Status/Obj. 2 Status'

1994 - Margaret Swift and Jane Champion visit detainees in Canterbury (AVID established and link forged with Medway Detainees Support Group - MDSG)


Nov 1995 - Former Zairean detainees living in Canterbury

Dec 1995/Jan 1996 - Number of asylum seekers arrive in Margate. Margaret Swift starts coffee mornings at St Johns

Mar 1996 -Refugee Link was formed

1996 - Kent Refugee Support Group was established

Apr 1997 - Jackie Downing, health visitor for homelessness, started writing reports about asylum seekers for the health authority.

Jul 1997 - Benefit concert for detainees (MDSG) in Canterbury

Autumn 1997 - Roma fleeing persecution in Slovakia/Czech Republic arrive in Dover (local petition headed 'Have you had enough of the so-called asylum seekers raping our social system?')

1997-Lucy Roberts, Sue Maharry finding school places.

1997 - Landlords go to port (Dover) to look for potential tenants.

17th Oct 1997 - Gwyn Posser MP holds meeting to talk about the issue of asylum seekers.

25th Oct 1997 - National Front (NF) members appeared in Dover, distributed leaflets: 'Dover in Crisis: Invasion Alert'.

Oct 1997- Due to press and government propaganda, locals populations' perceptions of asylum seekers changed; increase in racism; government bodies became very obstructive.

Nov 1997 - 40 NF members come to Dover - anti-fascists respond.

Nov 1997 - Human Rights Watch visit to Dover drop-in.

Dec 1997 - NF leafleting in Dover.

Feb 1998 - 40 NF members march in Dover, met by anti-fascists.

1998 - Health authority employs Dr Le Feuvre as salaried GP for asylum seekers.

May 1998 - Pre-Kran - Myths and misconceptions, Council Offices - Statutory officers

1998 - Dover Liaison Group? - First leaflet for asylum seekers - Malcolm Bowler DCC - liaison officer

1998 - Jerry Clarke - First Liaison Officer - Margate (Police)

Aug 1998 - Refugee Link - Multicultural festival in Dover

Aug 1998 - Dover Residents Against Racism held multicultural festival - supported by Roma refugee organisation

Autumn 1998 - Refugees fleeing Kosovo arrive in Dover

Oct 1998 - 'Human Sewage' headline in Dover Express

Dec 1998 - NF forced to abandon planned march

Dec 1998 - Nick Hudson (editor of Dover Express and Folkestone Herald) warned about 'incitement to racial hatred'.

11 Jan 1999 - Pru (Wood) - Specialist health visitor for asylum seekers started work

Jan 1999 - NF march in Dover opposed by anti-fascists - 300 police attended

1999 - Council initiative - Meeting ... local people and refugees - david Rallf (?) ... at Gordon Road watch scheme - Sandy Ezekiel.

June 1999 - Kosovan and Kurds fought in Dalby Square - Reported as 'Big Fight' - two years to sort out

June 1999 - Refugee Week - Refugee Link take band to Brighton to play at festival - help from Refugee Action

Aug 1999 - Clashes between AS youths and locals

Feb 2000 - Kent Refugee Action Network begins operations in an office in Dover

2000 - Attacks in Dover - knifings

Apr 2000 - NASS begins - port entry asylum seekers apply to NASS for accommodation and vouchers - not entitled to benefits

2000 - Islington Council has agreement to send asylum seekers to Thanet - 28 Apr 2000 - '3,000 asylum seekers in Thanet' isle of Thanet Gazette

5 may 2000 - 'Thanet Council says it has been very proactive in trying to resolve any differences that have arisen between Thanet residents and the local asylum seeker community since the situation began almost 2 years ago' Isle of Thanet Gazette.

Apr/Jun 2000 - NF march in Margate - plans to march every two weeks
2000 - Council tax up by £3 to cover money not returned by central government

16 June 2000 - Jerry Clarke, Thanet police minorities liaison officer writes in Isle of Thanet Gazette - 'Good and bad in all soc'

June 2000 - Sue Wilson's series re: asylum seekers in Thanet - isle of Thanet Gazette- 14 weeks

2000 - Multicultural event organised by Social Services - at beginning of Refugee Week

2000 - Jenny Gartland - director English as foreign language

June 2000 - Police allow 30 National Front (NF) members to march along Margate seafront on Bank Holiday -100s protest.

June 2000 - Refugee Link, KRSG, Amsterdam House, KRAN and Refugee Action - joint festival with Dover District Council (DCC)

July 2000 - MP Ladyman provokes angry response from Margate residents re: letter about law-abiding asylum seekers in Isle of Thanet gazette (7 July 2000)

Sep 2000 - In country applicants also apply to NASS by September

2000 - Jobs knock-on effect - conflict re: regeneration in Thanet - 7 Thanet wards among 10% most deprived in the country - Thanet anti-poverty strategy (march 2001)

Oct 2000 - Police allow 30 nazi NF members to chant outside Nayland Rock refugee hostel in Margate - 100s protest.

Oct 2000 - Fairness 2000 conference held - representatives from minority groups attended

Nov 2000 - NRIF established - Challenge Fund

Feb 2001 - Facing the Challenge conference on refugees and asylum seekers- organised by Medway Detainees Support group

Apr 2001 (or June 2001?) - Multi-agency Resource Centre opens in Margate

2001 - Friendship Project - KCC work for schools (after holocaust day)

June 2001 - Refugee Week - Dover's second multicultural festival

June 2001 - Refugee Week - Hannah and Hana

8 June 2001- 'Simmering cauldron that could boil over' - KM extra (about Gordon Road)

15 Nov 2001 - Conference on the Integration of refugees in East Kent - Northdown House, Cliftonville - KRSG, Tizard Centre, Refugee Action organised

Nov 2001 - disbenefitted cases with children (at school) allowed to stay in Kent

2002 - Wolfsen Project - Kent Arts and Libraries

2002 - Little Acorns

Apr 2002 - Nayland Rock hotel - induction centre for mainly families - Czech, Afghans

Feb 2002 - Kent Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers founded

May 2002 - Refugee Women's Group strated by KRSG margate

2002- launch of MA in Miration, mental Health and Social Care

June 2002 - Racial Reporting free phoneline started (letters in local press against phoneline)

2002 - Sanctum - Arts and Libraries, Ramsgate

2002 - Anne Frank exhibition

June 2002 - Refugee Week - third multicultural festival in Dover - Football tournament

June 2002 - TB screening for new arrivals

Summer 2002 - summer activities run by KRSG (Daily Mail headline: 'Asylum Seekers Summer Fun with Your 1m'

2002 - Thanet 60th most deprived district in the country

2002 -KRAN mentoring for refugees set up with Home Office funding

2002 - Voucher system scrapped, permission to work while awaiting decision stopped.

2002 - Dover detention centre opened (capacity for 340 men)

Oct 2002 - KRAN forms Dover Detainee Support Group - former Young Offenders Institute now 'Removals Centre' - CDAS campaigns

2002 - TBSP - money from ERF for refugees and asylum seekers

2002 - ARC card introduced

2002 - Induction Centres opened - Margate, Ashford and Dover.

This Page was last updated: Monday, February 24, 2003 at 1:08:45 PM
This page was originally posted: 31/10/02; 2:41:11 pm.
Copyright 2004 Thanet Refugee Access