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Protesters try to stop UK police from removing migrants for Rwanda transfer

Thursday, 02 May 2024 2:59 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 02 May 2024 4:26 PM ]

UK police officers surround a coach removing migrants from the Best Western hotel in Peckham, south London.

Protesters in the UK have attempted to stop the London police from removing migrants sheltered at a temporary accommodation for transfer to Rwanda.

Pro-migrant protesters gathered Thursday to prevent or delay the migrants’ removal from their temporary accommodation in southern London, reportedly to the Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset.

Dozens of protesters wearing face masks blocked a migrants' coach outside the Best Western Hotel in Peckham, south London.

They said they would “find any way to stop the coach from moving, whatever that looks like”. Reports said the protesters had placed their bicycles in front of the bus' wheels and even slashed one coach's tire.

The UK government has booked an unspecified number of flights for the deportation of migrants to Rwanda under its new immigration policy.

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A Home Office spokesman criticized the pro-migrant protesters' move, saying the migrants' removals had been announced on Wednesday.

The UK government’s announcement of the migrants' removal followed last month’s parliamentary passage of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s flagship immigration law, which forces asylum-seekers who arrive in Britain "illegally" after 1 January 2022 from France to be deported to Rwanda.

The British government made arrangement with the Rwandan government to have the migrants’ requests for asylum to be processed there, rather than in the UK.

If accepted, the migrants would be granted refugee status and allowed to stay in the landlocked east-central African country. If not, they could apply to settle in Rwanda on other grounds, or seek asylum in another "safe third country".

British government ministers say the Rwanda plan will stop migrants from arriving in the UK.

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