Waiters, chefs and others plan to down tools on 24 July in protest against a growing number of Home Office raids

The streets of London’s Chinatown are full to the brim with tourists coming and going from supermarkets, brightly painted restaurants and bustling bakeries. As the sun shines down, a mix of smells, sights and sounds fill the air.

But inside the doors of Imperial China restaurant on Lisle Street the mood is more sombre and business owners and members of the London Chinatown Chinese Association (LCCA) are gathered to discuss their fears about the future of the area. They say a tightening of immigration rules means that the area, established in Soho since the 1970s, could disappear.

One issue is heavy-handed enforcement raids community leaders say feel like “fishing” for illegal immigrants. Businesses complain that Home Office vans are visiting monthly, often without warrants, and disrupting trade.

Joseph Wu, a spokesperson for the LCCA, question the motives of the visits that sit as part of what was previously known as the “hostile environment” strategy, pursued by the government since 2010 to make living in the UK as uncomfortable as possible for illegal migrants. He believes the community is being seen as an “easy-target”, with raids not always “intelligence-led”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chu Ting Tang , chairman of London Chinatown Association. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

Tensions came to a head this month when immigration officers clashed with protesting crowds, resulting in an elderly woman being taken to hospital. The woman was filmed as she lay down in front of an immigration van as crowds gathered.

In the video, which has since gone viral, the van moves forward as bystanders push it back, helping the woman to crawl out of the way. The Home Office later said she was only taken to hospital as a “precautionary measure” and was not injured.

“It’s so frustrating as we have been trying to have a conversation with the Home Office. Tensions are running high in the community already ... I told everyone it’s important to talk and before I know it three immigration vehicles appear,” Wu says.

He adds: “The woman was an elderly lady who is deaf and she was trying to plead with officer not to take away a worker, who is believed to be from the same village as her ... She was kneeling down and begging.”

Wu says that after the video went viral 100 members of the Chinese community attended a forum to express their concern. Chu Ting Tang, the president of the LCCA, says: “The incident could have escalated to a disproportionate level if it was not handled properly eventually. I was very upset about the whole thing.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Business-owners in Chinatown have said tightening of immigration rules is making it harder to employ foreign workers. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

Waiters, chefs and shop workers plan to down tools on 24 July in a mass walkout to protest against the recent incident as well as a growing number of raids. “It’s a painful decision as each hour could be making money and as a small business, every hour is lost income, but there’s consensus about it,” Wu says.



The LCCA’s main complaints are that enforcement actions often take place without a warrant – an issue they have addressed with the Home Office – at peak hours of trading and are often heavy-handed and aggressive.

The Home Office says officers can enter business premises under a variety of lawful powers including when a warrant is issued, and also if the authority of an immigration enforcement assistant director is given.

A spokesperson said: “Immigration enforcement visits are all intelligence-led and conducted using lawful powers. Officers do not conduct ‘fishing exercises’.”

But James Tsang, from the LCCA, says a recent bakery raid resulted in no arrests. “They came in and said they were looking for someone, stopped everyone ... they stopped customers as well and at the end they didn’t find anyone. But damage was done in the way it was handled and it gave a bad impression to customers. It gave the image that Chinatown is a crime city.”

Jerry Ho owns the Royal China restaurant chain. He says: “These raids affect business because the vans block the road and stop people coming into the area. The worst part of it is that you lose your regular customers.”

The number of illegal immigrants in Chinatown is unknown, but Home Office figures published in 2015 show outstanding fines of almost £500,000 on Chinese restaurants and takeaways after illegal immigrants were discovered working there.

Issues between the Home Office and Chinatown have been ongoing for years. In October 2007, Operation Zavijava resulted in more than 30 arrests and the raids were interpreted as an attack on the community resulting in hundreds of people from across the country marching in London. In 2013, Chinatown went into shutdown as business owners protested against constant raids, which left them feeling targeted.

As well as raids in London, there have been recent raids in Chinatown in Manchester, with nine people were arrested at a popular restaurant in its centre at the beginning of the year.

Constant raids are not the only concern for restaurant-owners. A big issue for Ho is the lack of staff for his restaurants, which recently prompted him to stop opening further premises. “In Holland you can get a short-term visa for two years and then go back to your home country but it’s so much harder in Britain,” he says, adding that the rules have got tighter in the last decade.

He adds: “There are more and more restaurants closing, it’s a trend in London. Opening a restaurant you are faced with lots of expenses ... We have decided not to expand – we can’t because of staff shortages.”

The issue with a chef shortage is not just limited to Chinese restaurants. But in 2014, the UK introduced a new tier 2 immigration policy. These new rules state that chefs from non-EU countries who work in the Britain have to make a minimum salary of £30,000 a year.

Wu says: “We need to recruit Chinese chefs over here ... generally the direction of the government is moving toward the idea that you need to train up local people but it takes years to train someone to understand what Chinese food is, let alone give them the skills they need to cook it.”

Lee says: “Chinese cuisines all over the world is getting multidimensional and improving ... but in the UK it’s going backwards as we don’t have enough people. When a chef retires there is no one else to take their place.”

The impact of this is is huge, according to those gathered at Imperial China. Wu says: “We want to make sure Chinatown continues to thrive ... but if we are not able to sustain the business with the right kind of chefs and supporting staff in kitchen, it’s very difficult. But if Chinatown starts disappearing the loss will not just be to business owners but to London as a whole as we are now a cultural landmark.”

He adds: “Chinese businesses are some of the most resilient ... I remember during the first Gulf war I came to Chinatown and it was quiet but then all the businesses survived. So we survived the war but we cannot survive immigration policy in this country.”