A CAMPAIGN to prevent a refugee family being deported to Macedonia was launched yesterday.

Marjun and Lile Dimitrievski have been living in Redcar, east Cleveland, for the past 18 months with their sons, Sasha, 11, and eight-year-old Miki.

Now they have been told they must return to their village four miles from the border with Kosovo because Macedonia is considered peaceful. However, 36-year-old Marjun faces arrest because he is a conscientious objector and refuses to join the Macedonian Army.

The family believes their sons will be in danger, and the youngsters' friends from Lakes Primary School and West Redcar Community School turned out to support them yesterday.

Pete Widlinski, from the North-East Coalition for Asylum Rights, said: "The boys have settled in really well and their English is almost perfect - even if it is with a Redcar accent. However, if they go back, it is to a country in disarray.

"Albanians are coming over the border and killing Macedonians and vice-versa, and there are mafia gangs.

"Families are not being protected by their own government.

"This is about the children's education, which would suffer if they went back."

Pupils from Sasha's class in West Redcar were told about the threat to his future yesterday. A petition has already gone round the school, signed by more than 95 per cent of the pupils.

The campaign,which will involve posters, leaflets and a petition,is being supported by Redcar MP Vera Baird.

The family's case goes before the Immigration Appeal Tribunal on February 18.