TWO hundred and fifty people marched through Sheffield on Saturday to deliver the message: “Refugees welcome here.”

South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group joined forces with other campaign groups for the event, which culminated in a rally.

Derbyshire ex-miner John Dunn reported on an impromptu visit he had made to a refugee camp in Italy after walking across the border unchallenged while on holiday in France.

“The irony is that while we could stroll across borders without challenge, human beings fleeing war, torture and starvation are left to rot in a no man’s land,” he said.

He compared the demonisation of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers with the treatment of miners during the 1984-5 strike against pit closures.

He praised the solidarity miners had received, and called for the same solidarity to be shown to refugees fleeing war and repression.