All African Women’s Group Speaks Out
Against Racist Attacks
The All African Women’s Group (AAWG) held a series of meeting in autumn 2025 for women to speak out about the rise in racism and far-right protests outside hotels and in public spaces over the summer. Many protesters claimed that they were protecting women and children. But women asylum seekers and refugees tell a different story. AAWG members shared their experiences of increasing open abuse, threats and hostility — in supermarkets, on buses and trains, and on the streets. Many expressed deep fear for their children, who were being targeted by racism including in schools.
We also listened to an episode of File on Four on BBC Radio 4[i], where a man claiming to be an asylum seeker slandered others by saying that many people were “faking” their cases and pretending to be Christian to gain asylum. He also attacked women, accusing them of having children “to get status,” and made a cruel comment about single mothers, saying: “Where’s the daddy?” The women at our meeting were outraged by such prejudice being broadcast. Many wanted to speak out against other common myths, lies, and misinformation.
Reports of the obscene profits[ii] made by the companies running slum hotels were also discussed. The question was asked about why this scandal is not the focus of demonstrators rather than women and children being attacked?
We record here in women’s own words what they had to say.
Terrorised by Protests Outside the Hotels
“Hundreds of far-right protesters gathered outside our hotel shouting, ‘Send them back!’ It’s happened twice now. Nobody supported us. We were just told to stay inside and turn off the lights. It’s terrifying. That same day, I was abused at the bus stop by two children shouting, ‘Go back to your country.’”
“There were demonstrations outside — about 200 or 300 people. They were shouting things like, ‘Send them back,’ and other horrible words. We were just watching from the windows.
Even this past Saturday they came back again, doing the same demonstrations. It’s very, very traumatising. It has happened twice now, and they stay for two or three hours each time.
Nobody helps us at all. The only thing they tell us is to stay inside. They say, ‘People are coming to protest,’ and that’s it. It’s made me very depressed — really, seriously — it’s quite horrific.
One of the women here has a baby, just one year old. I don’t know exactly how many mothers are inside the hotel, but maybe around fifty. I haven’t really been able to talk about it with the others.
The effect on me lasts longer. I wanted to go to Tesco to buy milk for my son. I was standing at the bus stop, and there were two children on scooters shouting, ‘Go back to your country — you don’t belong here.’”
“Racism is life-threatening. It makes us fearful, depressed, traumatised. When I’m not with my child, I panic. My blood pressure rises — I can feel it in my body.”
“The stress and fear are constant. It affects our health, our sleep, our hearts. It’s not only emotional — it’s physical.”“These attacks and insults wear us down. We are mentally disturbed, anxious all the time, but we keep going because our children need us.”
Attacked on the street, on transport, in the shops . . .
“I was the first person to get on and sat down. A woman came on and told me to get up. I said, ‘Excuse me?’ She said, ‘If you don’t get up now, I’ll punch you.’ I told her, ‘How dare you?’
Other passengers looked on, but no one helped. She started pulling at me. I didn’t want to touch her because I knew how that could be twisted.
A passenger told the driver, who came and said he had seen me board first. The attacker claimed I was sitting in ‘her place’ and called me rubbish, saying, ‘People come from your country and ride buses with us.’
The driver refused to move the bus until she sat elsewhere. Other passengers finally spoke up, asking her to sit down so we could continue our journey. The driver threatened to call the police, and she eventually backed down.”
“I volunteer at a food bank because I want to contribute to this society. I was told to give out no more than four items per person. A white man demanded more and said, ‘If you don’t give me what I want, you’ll see what I’ll do to you today.’
I realised he was trying to gather friends to ambush me on my way home. I reported it, and thankfully the coordinators banned him. He targeted me because I’m a woman of colour.”
Children Targeted
“My son was standing by the lift when another boy grabbed his balls and then said it was ‘just a joke.’… Instead of moving the bully, they tried to move us.”
“My daughter came home from school crying. A man pointed at her and said, ‘Fuck you, n***.’”
“My daughter keeps begging to change schools because classmates call her ‘black monkey’… We can’t move schools because of where we live.”
“My grandson’s Catholic primary school… They even call it the ‘asylum class.’ I couldn’t sleep that night.”
“Racism pushes our children to the edge… A girl was called a monkey at school in Stratford — she later tried to take her own life.”
“Two boys shouted at us in the park, ‘Look, monkeys in the zoo!’… It’s a new trauma, every day.”
“When the children are not safe, the mothers fall sick… our children grow up thinking they have no worth.”
“These experiences remind us of the days of slavery — the fear and humiliation.”“Our children ask, ‘Why am I Black? Why didn’t you make me white?’… They can’t play
freely anymore.”
Living in Hotels: Poverty, Destitution and Harassment
“Even our Aspen cards identify us as asylum seekers… we go early in the morning, when no one is around, just to withdraw money.”
“Once, I was refused food outright after waiting in line at a food bank.”
“The food in the hotel is so bad it makes us sick… Sometimes there’s no electricity for days… We want to cook our traditional foods, but ingredients are expensive and spoil.”
“You get £8.87, and then they even tax it. Yes, we pay tax on that.”
“Another lie was that women are ‘living in luxury.’ But living in a hotel on nine pounds per week is not easy… The food makes me sick… I had to use my nine pounds to buy food outside.”
“I was living in a room with no window… I felt like I was in prison… I became depressed.”
“In my first hotel in Ashford, a security guard started coming to my door at night. He would knock and say, ‘You’re so beautiful,’ and make sexual comments. When I reported it, the manager — a white British man — told me not to take it seriously, saying, ‘That’s just how he behaves. You’re a woman of colour; we can do whatever we want.’
When I refused his advances, I was evicted. I slept outside for four days in winter before a kind sister brought me a duvet. The Home Office refused to help. Later, when I was moved to another hotel in Exeter, I faced similar harassment. My belongings were taken, and I was left with only one shirt and one pair of trousers. A lawyer is now helping me to take my case forward.”
“There were more than fifty security guards at our hotel. They followed us everywhere, even up to our rooms. They often entered without knocking because they had master keys. Sometimes they would whisper things like, ‘You’re so beautiful,’ or comment on our bodies.
One of my friends told me that the manager was finally sacked for sexual harassment, but the abuse had gone on for months.
The housing manager in our accommodation would come into our room without warning. Once, when my teenage daughter was there, he said, ‘She’s getting big — what are you feeding her?’ Another time, when she was home alone, he tried to enter the flat. We kept reporting him… but they did nothing for over a year. Eventually they moved us – but we don’t know whether they took any action to prevent him doing it again.”
“When men offer me money for sex, how am I to say no? I have only £9 a week, and I have children back home who depend on me to survive. I can’t refuse, so I do it. I think only of my children and how I have to stay alive for them.”
“Sometimes hotels have far more single men than women. In ours, there are so many men. They come up to you asking, ‘Can I massage you tonight?’ If you say no, they ask why. When you go to the kitchen, they stand around staring. Once my Wi-Fi wasn’t working… he changed the Wi-Fi to his personal hotspot… I realised he wanted me to go to his room. This is the kind of harassment we face daily.”
“Sexual harassment is everywhere. In one case, a man told me he would help me only if I became his ‘slave.’ I walked away. This is how men take advantage. This is why many women want women-only hotels. We don’t want to live with men.”
“I also want to add that in these hostels men often take advantage of women. Many of us came here thinking we could rebuild our lives… but we end up being used. Men take advantage of the situation.”“I met someone in the hotel who wanted a relationship with me… When I said no, he threatened, ‘What if I kill you?’ I took my baby and locked myself in my room. I was terrified.”
Government Responsibility for Women Being Unsafe
“When I was an asylum seeker in the past, men and women were never mixed… The government has made it more dangerous for women by housing us with men.”
“The people who own these hotels make thousands of pounds. It’s corrupt. It is a system set up to make rich people richer.”
Speaking Out Against Lies and Stereotypes
“One of the lies we heard was: ‘Women have babies just to stay in the country.’ It’s outrageous. These accusations are sexist and unfair. Women have the right to have children. We have a right to happiness. What about our biological clocks and our health?”
“What about the women who experience rape and become pregnant?… Women are left alone — not because they want status, but because of the situation they are forced into.”
“Many women raise children alone in the hardest circumstances… It ignores the work women do in raising the next generation.”
“From my experience, the way some people talk about women is deeply abusive. Children are born to women and men. If fathers disappear, that is not women’s fault.”
We Have the Right to Be Here
“We are here because Africa has been robbed for hundreds of years. It is our wealth that is here… Our lives matter as much as anyone else’s.”
[i] Inside the Migrant Hotel, 24 September 2025
[ii] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce9r5m74de8o Clearspring Ready Homes has a lucrative 10-year contract with the Home Office. Since 2019, this company and two other accommodation providers have reported a combined £383 million in earnings.
All African Women's Group 