Iranian ‘fed up’ in UK demands to be deported

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

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

Greater Manchester Police 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.

Arash Aria asked police to return him back to Iran because he was 'fed up with Manchester'http://t.co/cp5beeV55D pic.twitter.com/ps0lmQ81Bi

— Manchester News MEN (@MENnewsdesk) September 24, 2015

“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, having worked as a waiter and barman, is hoping to renew his expired Iranian passport and return to Shiraz, in south-west Iran.

He said he wanted to “be somebody”.