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Media warned against hysteria over refugees

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON JAN. 26. A virulent campaign against asylum seekers in Britain's right-wing tabloid press, linking refugees to terrorism, has prompted the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, to warn against whipping up hysteria saying that it could lead to "disintegration'' of community relations.

``I'm worried about people taking the law into their own hands,'' he said as The Sun, Britain's largest mass circulated tabloid, carried a series of allegations against asylum-seekers and asked its readers to "read it and get angry''. It also launched a campaign asking its readers to sign a coupon, issued with each copy of the newspaper, demanding tough action against immigrants "before it is too late''.

Sensational stories demonising refugees have also appeared in The Daily Mail, The Daily Express and the News of the World. The latter infuriated refugee groups when it printed an aerial photograph of an area where immigrants from Iraq, Algeria and the Balkans are concentrated. The Mail ran a report alleging that Britain had become a "haven'' for "Albanian gangsters...and Algerian terrorists''.

Mr. Blunkett, who himself has been accused of making covertly "racist'' remarks, urged newspapers to exercise restraint. "I am deeply worried. I am worried because genuine fears and concern can so easily turn to a desire to find scapegoats,'' he said in an interview in the latest issue of New Statesman.

He said he did not to "have a go at any individual newspaper editor'' but they "should not act in that way, and that they accept that we're all responsible for our actions and the subsequent outcome''.

Civil liberties activists welcomed Mr. Blunkett's intervention saying that refugees were living in a climate of heightened fear because of the "hysteria'' prompted by recent arrests of asylum- seekers in connection with alleged terrorist offences. "Now more than ever, asylum seekers face a disturbing climate of fear and some face violence,'' the Refugee Action said.

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