A group of masked protesters have surrounded a Bibby Stockholm bound coach sent to collect a group of asylum seekers being housed in Peckham and popped its tyres to prevent it from leaving.
The demonstrators surrounded the coach in a human chain shortly after it arrived at Peckham Road bus stop at around 8am and have blocked all entrances and exits to the vehicle.
The organised group were chanting ‘we will not be moved’ and ‘refugees are welcome here’ before throwing lime bikes under the vehicle whilst police attempted to defuse the situation.
The migrants scheduled to be moved to the government’s floating compound in Dorset have been told to remain in the Best Western hotel until the situation has been resolved.
It is believed the coach was set to collect other passengers on its route to Dorset.
The demonstrators surrounded the coach in a human chain shortly after it arrived at Peckham Road bus stop at around 8am
The group has slashed the tyres of the coach to prevent it from leaving
Lime bikes have been wedged underneath the coach to further prevent its exit
The organised group has been chanting ‘we will not be moved’ and ‘refugees are welcome here’ whilst police attempt to defuse the situation
The activists have blocked all entrances and exits to the vehicle
Due to the actions, none of the migrants scheduled to be moved have boarded the coach
The asylum seekers had been told they would be collected on Thursday morning by coach to relocate to the Bibby Stockholm moored at Portland in Dorset
The asylum seekers had been told they would be collected on Thursday morning by coach to relocate to the Bibby Stockholm moored at Portland in Dorset.
Explaining their actions, one protester said: ‘We are trying to stop police deporting migrants.
‘These are human beings who don’t deserve to be moved around like cattle. It’s state-sponsored human trafficking, that’s why we are here.
‘Today they are moving them to Bibby Stockholm. We are going to block the method of transporting them.
‘We will find any way to stop the coach from moving, whatever that looks like.’
Kojo Kyerewaa, a coordinator for the protest, told the Guardian: ‘Our friends who are at a Home Office hotel got notification that they were going to be taken to the Bibby Stockholm today.
‘We know that the residents don’t want to leave and we know that the Bibby Stockholm is a dangerous place to put anyone.
‘It’s unsanitary and one person has taken their own life being there and there’s been multiple attempts of suicide by people told that they’re going to the Bibby Stockholm.’
According to Kyerewaa, the protest was inspired by a similar one in Margate last week, where a coach was prevented from taking 22 asylum seekers to the barge.
Police are now remonstrating with the protesters who have been inspired by similar actions in Margate
Due to the action the coach has been unable to leave with the migrants
The action follows a series of Home Office operations that saw dozens of migrants set to be deported to Rwanda detained.
The Home Office said a series of operations took place across the country this week, with more activity due to be carried out in the coming weeks.
Officials have not yet said how many people have been detained, or where they were taken into custody.
Women are understood to be among those detained by Home Office enforcement officers in a series of raids this week after being picked to be sent to Rwanda.
Department officials refused to say how many people had been held so far, arguing that ongoing operations prevented them from doing so. They confirmed more than two people had been detained, with both men and women in custody.
Enforcement action is said to have taken place throughout the UK – in England, Wales and Scotland as well as Northern Ireland – since midday on Monday.
Children are not expected to be detained as part of the operations.
In one video, a team of about six officials – all thought to be from the Home Office’s Immigration Enforcement unit – arrive at a terraced house and enter through the front door.
A female officer is then seen opening an internal door and announcing: ‘Immigration.’
A man dressed in dark-checked trousers and a light-coloured hoodie then walks out of the bay-fronted house and steps into the rear of a detention vehicle.
A security grille is then locked behind him.
The first illegal migrants set to be removed to Rwanda have now been detained, following a series of nationwide operations this week
Officials have not yet said how many people have been detained, or where they were taken into custody
More than 7,000 migrants have already crossed the Channel so far this year in small boats
In a second sequence, officers arrive at another terraced house and then leave with a bearded young man dressed in black trousers and a black hoodie.
The man walks out of the white-rendered property with his hands handcuffed in front of him, and is placed in a van.
The faces of both men were obscured in the videos and the locations of the detentions have not been disclosed.
It is not known at this stage how many people have been held in total.
Meanwhile more than 700 migrants arrived in the UK yesterday after crossing the – a new record for the year so far.
The Home Office said 711 people made the journey in 14 boats on Wednesday, suggesting an average of 51 people per boat.
It takes the provisional total for the number of arrivals this year so far to 8,278.
Channel crossings had already hit a new record high for the first four months of a calendar year, jumping 34% on 2023 when 6,192 were recorded and up 19% on the total at this stage in 2022 (6,945).
Last year 29,437 migrants arrived in the UK, down 36% on a record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.
Since the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act became law after receiving Royal Assent on Thursday last week, 1,611 migrants have made the journey in 32 boats.
A group of migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent by the RNLI on Tuesday after being picked up
The number of arrivals by small boats in 2024 now stands at a provisional total of 8,278
The news comes as a migrant boat packed with 66 people on board was rescued off Dieppe trying to cross the Channel – where the stretch of water between France and the UK is at least 65 miles wide.
Men, women and children were on board the vessel when it got into difficulty on Wednesday morning off the coast of the French port.
Dieppe is 70 miles down the coast from Calais and Dunkirk where the vast majority of migrant crossings have been launched, heading to the Kent coast as the Channel is just 21 miles wide.
It is not clear at this stage if the boat had set off from the French coast near Dieppe, despite the greater journey distance, or if it had got lost and veered off course.
Lifeboats were scrambled to find the boat, the French authorities said.
A maritime coastguard vessel then found the stricken vessel and rescued the occupants.
Dozens of migrants made the crossing from the French coast near Calais on Wednesday and were intercepted by British Border Force vessels.
The French Prefecture Maritime said all 66 people were rescued on May 1 and brought them into the port.
In a statement they said the migrants were rescued by the Maritime Gendarmerie’s coastal maritime surveillance boat Yser.
‘The Yser rescued the boat, which was in difficulty, in the afternoon.
‘The crew rescued 66 castaways, including women and children.
‘The castaways were then taken to the port of Dieppe where they were taken care of by the land rescue services and the border police’, the statement said.
