Protestors in Peckham are being arrested after a day-long stand-off to prevent asylum seekers from being transported to the Bibby Stockholm barge.
The coach was supposed to leave from the Best Western hotel in Peckham this morning at 8am to take a group to the vessel.
Bibby Stockholm is a site, moored in Dorset, that the government is using to house people waiting for asylum applications to be approved.
By this afternoon (Thursday 2 May) there were unconfirmed reports the coach’s tyres had been slashed and photos circulating on social media have shown police removing people from the scene.
It is believed that Lime bikes were put under the wheels of the coach to stop it from moving. Officers came in force after a day-long protest with crowds sitting on the ground around the coach.
Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said in the social media post: “My officers were quickly on scene and have engaged with the protesters at length.”
He added: “We will always respect the right to peaceful protest but we have been clear that where there is serious disruption and criminality then we will take decisive action.”
Talking to the News this morning, a protestor said: “We’re here in solidarity as this is against human rights.
“You can’t just ship people off.”
Since last August, there have been various problems associated with Bibby Stockholm – including outbreaks of diseases and even one death, reportedly by suicide.
One of the asylum seekers, who prefers to remain anonymous for safety reasons, said they were notified just ‘five working days ago.’
The man, who volunteers at the Southwark Asylum Centre teaching English, told us: “We were told we had to go unless we gave a reason we could not.
“We tried to but the appeal was rejected.”
He explained he had lived at the hotel for the last seven months and felt ‘part of the community.’
“I teach English here. I feel part of the community.”
Reacting to how many people had turned up to support them, he added: “It’s surprising everyone turned up like this.
“It’s nice that people really care.”
A Home Office spokesperson told us: “This behaviour is intimidatory and aggressive. As part of our commitment to significantly reducing the use of hotels, asylum seekers are being moved into alternative accommodation to reduce costs on the taxpayer.
They added that they had now closed 150 asylum-seeker hotels. “We have returned 150 hotels to local communities and we work closely with accommodation providers to manage the exit process in a way which limits the impact on local authorities and asylum seekers,” the spokesperson said.
The News has asked the police for an update on this ongoing situation.