LONDON, May 7: Thousands demonstrated in central London on Monday urged the British government to grant an amnesty for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.

Demonstrators urged the government to grant a two-year work permit without access to benefits for refused asylum seekers or visa overstayers who have been in the country for four years or more.

The Roman Catholic leader in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, told faith leaders, immigrants and activists at the rally that migrants deserved to be treated “with justice and with dignity.

“That is why I am so glad to be associated with fellow Christians and people of other faiths and with politicians who are determined to retain people, who were considered strangers but now have become citizens.”

The rally organised by The Strangers into Citizens Campaign followed a mass at Westminster Cathedral for migrant workers and a procession through London featuring drummers, whistle-blowers, and Latin American bands.

The campaign proposes that those qualifying for a work permit would receive indefinite leave to remain for two years; subject to an English test, clean criminal record and employer and sponsor references.

Jack Dromey, deputy general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, told the rally his Irish parents had faced racist barriers to finding lodging when they moved to London in the 1930s.

He added that the trade union movement had been built on a history of migration.

“These are decent men and women, these undocumented workers, 340,000 in London alone, it would be impractical and immoral for any government to pretend that you can hunt down and deport them,” Dromey said.

“Let’s see regularisation so that these good men and women can emerge out of the twilight world of exploitation, fear and insecurity to join the rest of the citizens in building this country,” he added.

The Strangers Into Citizens Campaign estimates there are up to 500,000 long-term illegal migrants trying to make a living. Both the Labour government and the Conservative Party opposition voiced opposition to an amnesty.—AFP