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LEFT TO DIE ON STREETS
Homeless campaigners speak out on plight of immigrants
THE death of a Polish man prevented from receiving drug rehabilitation services has been condemned by campaigners who warn homeless immigrants are being left to die on the streets of Westminster.
Philip Burke, who works in central London for homeless charity the Simon Community, said thousands of eastern European immigrants were turned away from hostels and drug treatment facilities in central London each month.
Hostels are refusing to take as many as half of the homeless people on the streets because strict legislation introduced last year makes them ineligible.
“Nobody wants to know about eastern Europeans and the government just turns a blind eye to them,” said Mr Burke.
“Most of the hostels won’t go near them because they can’t claim benefits. They are very vulnerable, turn to drugs and are literally forced to starve on the streets.
“This is happening all over London, but Victoria has a particular problem. It’s a
disgrace.”
His claim follows an inquest into the death of a 30-year-old Polish father who came to London with his family to work but fell on hard times and was found dead on the floor of a toilet in Victoria train station in November. ?
Krzysztof Marszalek was taken to St Thomas’s Hospital for a suspected overdose, where he was treated by a doctor he had seen the previous day.
In a statement read to Westminster Coroner’s Court on Friday, Dr Anna Johnson, a specialist registrar at the hospital, said she was “surprised” to see Mr Marszalek – who died despite attempts to resuscitate him en-route to St Thomas’s – so soon after his last visit.
The court heard how Mr Marszalek had come to London two years ago with his wife and two-year-old daughter but was cut off from his family after it was revealed he had infected his wife with HIV.
Coroner Dr Paul Knapman said Mr Marszalek had experienced a troubled life since moving to England. He said: “He was an alcoholic, had HIV, took drugs, was a rough sleeper and didn’t have a job. It is clear that this man had a number of problems in his life.”
Death by cardio respiratory arrest from a potent mix of cocaine and heroin was recorded.
The death has been seen as a damning indictment of the revolving door policy for treating immigrants with drug problems in this country.
Under current legislation, immigrants cannot claim benefits – a requirement to get a hostel bed or drug rehabilitation – until they have worked for at least a year.
The editor of homeless magazine The Pavement, Richard Burdett, said: “The wider issue is that eastern European immigrants in Westminster don’t have the same access to hostel space or drug treatment facilities that people who are claiming benefits do.” |
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