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Migrants are welcome here

Crowds turn out in towns and cities nationwide for One Day Without Us rallies

CAMPAIGNERS will hold rallies across the country today in a celebration of migrants and migration to show Britain’s better side as a “welcoming and open country.”

The One Day Without Us campaign has organised the national day of action in solidarity with migrants under the slogan: “Proud to be a migrant. Proud to stand with migrants.”

In London, supporters will gather in Parliament Square before unfurling a banner from Westminster Bridge which will declare: “Migrants welcome here.”

Events have also been organised in Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh and elsewhere to celebrate the vital contributions of migrants to British society.

The Migrants’ Rights Network said: “We intend to come into the streets once again to celebrate the people of all genders who have made Britain their home.

“We are doing this because migrants are still being scapegoated and blamed for problems they did not cause.

“We do not accept this. We welcome the people who want to work and live here and we celebrate the power of migration to change lives and societies for the better.

“Whether you come from Britain, France, Pakistan or Zimbabwe; whether you voted Leave or Remain; whether you came here as a refugee, a student, a bricklayer, or a surgeon; whether you are a migrant yourself or the child and grandchild of migrants — come out and join us.”

One Day Without Us campaign founder Matt Carr pointed to the NHS and construction as “key sectors” which rely on immigrants to keep going.

A House of Commons report published earlier this month revealed that around 139,000 members of NHS staff are non-British out of a workforce of around 1.2 million.

The report also found that 36 per cent of all doctors gained their medical qualification outside Britain, over half of that number coming from Asia.

Mr Carr said: “The message we wanted to put out was 'proud to be a migrant, proud to stand with migrants.’ We're going to try and challenge the use in British political discourse of migrants as a kind of pejorative [word].”

He launched the One Day Without Us campaign in 2016, which held its first national day of action last February with the support of charities and unions including Unison and Unite.

Then, migrants, their supporters, NGOs, universities and trade unions all participated in more than 160 different events across the country in a unique demonstration of unity and solidarity.

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