'I've been in houses where I couldn't stay for more than half an hour because the mould made me feel sick'
17.11.2023 - 17:19
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Protesters have picketed the Affordable Housing Awards at Old Trafford. It comes a year after the event was cancelled in the wake of the Awaab Ishak scandal, as uncovered by the M.E.N.
Demonstrators from the Greater Manchester Tenants Union (GMTU) and Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC) picketed the entrance to The Point at Emirates Old Trafford, home of Lancashire cricket club, where the event was taking place on Friday (November 17). As attendees entered the awards, a group of 30-40 people held placards aloft and shouted ‘shame’.
The protest was briefly interrupted when eggs were hurled from the main road towards the demonstration, but no-one was hit by the projectiles. Organisers said they called the protest to highlight the conditions families like Awaab’s still have to live in.
READ MORE: 'We were finally listened to... but we still ask, what if our son was still alive?'
READ MORE: Awaab's Law is now a reality - and will save lives
“SHAC pickets the housing awards every year, and last year we got it cancelled because we organised a petition online with 45,000 signatures to say it should be cancelled after the coroner’s report into Awaab Ishak’s death [was released],” organiser Suzanne Muna told the M.E.N. “That tells the story of our broken housing system.
“The tenants are secondary and do not matter. Awaab’s parents had tried to get repairs done. It was not a sudden leak. It was years and years of inaction.”
GMTU supported the protest, with its own organiser, Dan Isaac, saying in his campaigning, he has visited properties that he couldn’t stand to be in for more than half an hour, because mould made him ‘feel sick’, the 34-year-old from Moss Side said.
His colleague, Isaac Rose, 31, added: “I think we see