Protesters outside the Holborn branch of Byron. Photo: Yui Mok / PA Wire/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.In comparison with recent actions where cockroaches, locusts and crickets were released into central London restaurants, Monday’s demonstration at the Holborn Byron Burger restaurant was of a more orderly nature. Beneath the front window of the establishment, closed for the day by the impending picket, a crowd gathered to demand justice for those members of Byron staff recently deported to Brazil, Nepal, Egypt and elsewhere. The staff had been summoned to early morning training sessions that transpired to be a Home Office immigration raid. Byron have claimed the training session was not collusion, despite many consistent testimonials to the contrary by deported staff. This seems to be a lie that evidences the wrongdoing the company sense it has committed.
The protest outside was, even on a rainy afternoon, well-attended and vocal. Popular chants included “How do you like your burgers? … Without deportations!”. A placard announced that a protester had “beef with Byron” and written statements were read to the crowd. One spoke of Home Office staff overheard to have said, before the unsuspecting arrival of the Byron workers a week ago, “I can’t wait to pounce on a waiter.” Many of those 35 workers, some of them now already back overseas, had been Byron staff for a number of years; many had begun settled lives and families in the UK.
Many of those 35 workers [...] had begun settled lives and families in the UK
