Iranian man who asked to be deported from Manchester hits out at city's 'rudeness' and 'violence'
- Arash Aria walked into a police station and demanded to be taken back to Iran
- 25-year-old has spoken of how 'unwelcoming' people of Manchester have driven him out
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Your support makes all the difference.An Iranian man who told police to deport him from Manchester has said he is fed up with the “rudeness” and “violence” he has encountered in the city.
Arash Aria, 25, walked into a police station in the city centre and demanded to be taken back to Iran after a decade in the city.
But when officers checked his immigration status with the Home Office, they discovered he was actually living in the UK legally.
They had no option but to release him and send him on his way.
Mr Aria has now spoken about how the “unwelcoming” people of Manchester have driven him out.
“The people of Manchester have not been welcoming,” he said. “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. 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.”
Mr Aria told the Daily Telegraph he has also been left frustrated and disappointed by his failure to find work.
He now hopes to renew his expired Iranian passport and return to Shiraz in Iran.
“It's affecting my head, my dreams and the way I think,” he said. “I am on benefits but I don't want that. I am in full health, I want to work.”
Greater Manchester Police tweeted earlier this week that a man had been arrested after he demanded to be returned home to Iran because he’d “had enough” of Manchester.
Reaction on Twitter was mixed, with one user suggesting that Mr Aria “should be given a medal” for spending such a long time in Manchester.