MORE THAN 700 Chagossians gathered in Manchester on Saturday to demand that their right to self-determination be respected.

The rally, hosted by Friends of the British Overseas Territories (FotBot), was prompted by the government’s decision to cede the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

Chagossians were forcibly removed from the Indian Ocean territory in 1968 and 1973 to make way for a military base shared by Britain and the United States, and access to the islands remains restricted.

Last month, Downing Street confirmed it was working with Mauritius to finalise a deal which would see Britain hand over the islands while allowing the US and Britain to lease its military base there.

Last month, two women threatened legal action against the government, arguing that the islands’ native inhabitants have been unlawfully excluded from having a say in their homeland’s future and citing fears that it might be harder for Chagossians who only have British citizenship to return freely.

At the rally in Manchester, which is the home to the second-largest Chagossian community in Britain, attendees heard from a number of speakers including Frankie Bontempts and Maxwell Evenor of Chagossian Voices and Misley Mandarin and Vanessa Calou of the British Indian Ocean Territory Citizen platform.

FotBot chief James Lunn said: “FotBot continues to stand with the Chagossian community against this unpopular rotten deal. 

“We are working with a wide range of groups to unite against it and ensure that their voices — the voices that matter most and which have been sidelined by the UK government — are finally heard. 

“The message from our Manchester rally was clear: the Chagossian community want the right to self-determination. 

“We continue to urge the UK government to cancel the deal and engage meaningfully with the Chagossians.”