Migrants ‘caught in limbo’ on the Bibby Stockholm barge stage a revolt
Migrants in limbo on the Bibby Stockholm are staging a revolt calling on Labour to speed up their bids for asylum and free them from the ‘hell barge’.
Stand up to Racism Dorset said around 60 to 100 people on the Home Office-run barge took part in the action, including withdrawing from meals and organising a two-hour sit-in at the site’s outside compound.
A spokesperson said almost all of the men have been waiting more than a year, and ‘many much longer’, to know the outcomes to decide their futures which is causing a ‘significant deterioration in their mental health’.
One of the men described the Bibby Stockholm as the ‘hell barge’ amid the difficult conditions of limbo.
Local people supporting an asylum seekers protest by hosting a solidarity vigil outside the port where the Bibby Stockholm barge is moored
Many locals and asylum seekers held hand-drawn placards at the protest
Asylum seekers protesting outside the Bibby Stockholm barge
There was a gathering of about 60-100 Bibby Stockholm residents in the rain
The spokesperson said: ‘Having fled from fear, persecution, and often torture in an attempt to find refuge and safety, the men wish to be able to live and work in the UK, earn their own livings, pay their own way and contribute to society by paying their taxes.
‘The men very much appreciate the support they receive, but they are desperate for the asylum process to be speeded up and for their decisions to be received sooner.
‘The continual ‘not knowing’ together with difficult barge living conditions is affecting some very badly.’
They said that the men are asking for more support for their declining mental health during this period.
Local people also supported the protesters by hosting a solidarity vigil outside the port.
The barge, moored off the coast of Portland in Dorset, is the only accommodation barge for migrants commissioned so far by ministers and has faced a series of setbacks since its arrival
A view inside the gym onboard the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge
The action comes as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has not confirmed whether the Government would abandon use of the barge for housing asylum seekers
The spokesperson added: ‘The men want to be able to get on with their lives, work, contribute and pay their way and ask our new Government to please help make this happen much more quickly.’
The action comes as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has not confirmed whether the Government would abandon use of the barge for housing asylum seekers.
The Government is setting up a fresh Border Security Command designed to crack down on people-smuggling gangs orchestrating the Channel crossings as Labour’s first priority on migration.
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We take the health and wellbeing of asylum seekers seriously and at every stage in the process will seek to ensure that all needs and vulnerabilities are identified and considered, including those related to mental health and trauma.’
5 Police stand in front of demonstrators after they formed a blockade around the bus
Demonstrators form a blockade around police vans and a coach which was due to remove asylum seekers from a hotel in Peckham on May 2
It comes after a bus firm refused to transport asylum seekers from a hotel to the barge thought because they would get ‘negative publicity’, a court heard earlier in the month.
Protesters blocked the route from a Best Western Hotel in Peckham, South East London to the infamous accommodation barge for migrants at 8.30am on May 2.
Stratford magistrates’ court heard that the bus company contracted by the Border Force declared it wouldn’t move them because they were worried about optics and it wasn’t ‘enforced’.
The vehicle was surrounded by protesters and one of the tyres was deflated. Police attended the scene but around 60 activists later began to surround three police carriers as they detained people.
The court was told that the group was ‘three layers deep and fortified with push bikes and hire bikes’ in the road.
