UPDATES WITH ARRESTS; REVISES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE
By Burak Bir
LONDON (AA) - Dozens of activists were arrested after blocking a coach early Thursday in an attempt to prevent it from transporting asylum seekers to the Bibby Stockholm barge.
The protest took place when a coach was sent to a Best Western Hotel in Peckham, southeast London to pick up asylum seekers to transfer them to the floating barge, which is docked at Portland Port on the coast of Dorset in southwest England.
The coach could not leave the area after being surrounded by the protesters at about 8 a.m. local time (0700GMT).
Video footage circulated on social media showed the crowd chanting pro-immigration slogans including "Stop deportation," referring to the UK's much-debated migration policy, particularly the Rwanda migrant deportation plan.
"Well done all anti-racists supporting refugees and opposing detention vans, coaches and raids in localities all over Britain," the Stand Up To Racism group wrote on X, sharing images from the protest.
Later, Southwark Police said in a statement that dozens of the activists have been arrested for various offences.
"A total of 45 people have been arrested and taken into police custody for offences including obstruction of the highway, obstructing police and assault on police," they said.
According to the police, the coach’s tires were also reportedly deflated to prevent it from leaving.
Earlier, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said they had warned the group that they could be arrested.
On Tuesday, the UK dispatched its first failed asylum seeker to Rwanda under a pioneering voluntary scheme.
After becoming law in late April, the long-debated legislation seeking to send asylum seekers to Rwanda paves the way for the deportation of thousands of asylum seekers in a matter of weeks.
In January last year, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that tackling small boat crossings by irregular migrants across the English Channel was among five priorities of his government as more than 45,000 migrants arrived in the UK that way in 2022.