Arash Aria, 25, told officers he had been staying in UK illegally for 10 years but was released when officers discovered he had permission to live in country

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

An Iranian man who walked into a police station and demanded to be deported has said he did so because he was “fed up” with living in Manchester.

Arash Aria was arrested after telling officers he had been staying in the UK illegally for 10 years, but was later released when immigration checks found he did have permission to live in the country.

Greater Manchester police (GMP) described the episode as “strange”.

The 25-year-old told the Daily Telegraph: “The people of Manchester have not been welcoming. It’s words, violence, many things. I try to ignore people but I’m fed up now. I don’t get the respect I should here. People are not friendly here in Manchester. When they are rude to me, I don’t like it.

“Particularly in the last year it’s got really bad. I try to be friendly and polite. But they just laugh at me because I am foreign and look at me strangely.”

Aria, who said he is unemployed and on benefits after having worked as a waiter and barman, is hoping to renew his expired Iranian passport and return to Shiraz, in south-west Iran. He added he wanted to “be somebody”.

The incident was revealed in a series of tweets from GMP’s city centre account.

In an update later, officers tweeted: