Councillors and community groups show solidarity with asylum seekers facing transfer to Bibby Stockholm

The Home Office has attempted to move seven asylum seekers currently living at a hotel in Muswell Hill, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

People gathered outside the National Hotel in Muswell today, including council leader Peray Ahmet (left) — People gathered outside the National Hotel in Muswell Hill today, including council leader Peray Ahmet (left)

Seven asylum seekers in Haringey are facing transfer to the Bibby Stockholm barge despite senior councillors and community groups claiming the Home Office is not following “due process”.

Around 20 protesters gathered this morning (Friday 8th) outside National Hotel in Muswell Hill – where the asylum seekers are currently living – to help them resist their attempted removal and advocate on their behalf.

The Bibby Stockholm is a barge moored at Portland in Dorset that the Home Office has been using to house asylum seekers since the summer, but there has been widespread criticism over cramped living conditions on the barge and whether it is safe. Last month, the Home Office agreed to reduce the maximum number allowed to live there from 500 to 425.

The Home Office arrived to transfer the Muswell Hill residents early this morning, having already removed one on Wednesday (6th). But the attempt today was resisted and local protesters hope the asylum seeker who was taken earlier can appeal the decision.

Council leader Peray Ahmet was among the protestors. She had been at the hotel since the early morning and said the Home Office was not using due process, having only given residents minutes to pack their belongings, adding they were looking to make “examples” of people.

“They’re just rocking up they’re not giving enough notice,” she told the Local Democracy Reporter Service.

“We’re having to resist by saying ‘you haven’t followed proper process’. They think they can act with impunity.”

The Home Office has said that it will “work closely” with accommodation providers and local authorities to “manage the exit process in a way which limits the impact on partners and service users”.

But Cllr Ahmet said: “We know they’ll be back and there’s only so much us as a council and activists can do to resist; we’ll do our upmost but they’re acting with impunity and not sticking to their own process.

“They’re attempting to remove people with medical concerns, there’s no compromise or conversation.”

Speaking on the local reaction to the situation, Cllr Ahmet added: “There’s a sense of frustration certainly, amongst us as a council, amongst our activists as well. We know we’re not being listened to. We know the backdrop; we know what direction the government is going and wants to go and it’s deeply sad.”

Lucia das Neves, the council’s cabinet member for health, social care and wellbeing, spoke on the “inhumane” ways residents were treated.

Cllr das Neves said: “Today someone just arrived with a list of numbers, there weren’t names on that list, it was a list of court numbers, that I think reflects some of the inhumanity and lack of dignity entrenched within the system.”

Cllr das Neves said she had previously met local residents who had been taken to the Bibby Stockholm and that it had since been hard to find out if they were safe and doing okay.

“I think it’s great the community really care about these issues, but of course the process and the systems we don’t have control over and so it’s really difficult and emotionally challenging,” she said.

The Labour councillor added she was frustrated with a system that delayed and withheld asylum, adding the situations in the countries many of the people were coming from made them eligible to stay here.

She said: “There’s a part of me that thinks why wouldn’t we get on with processing their claim and resolve that for them so they can build a life, become taxpayers, move forward, contribute and become a part of the community?”

Lucy Nabijou, co-ordinator of Haringey Welcome, a grassroots collective of volunteer residents committed to welcoming refugees and migrants into the community, spoke passionately at today’s protest. She said: “They [the Home Office] should stop the performative cruelty, stop treating people as pawns in their silly games, it’s a distraction from all of the failures that we know this government have created.”

She added the current problems being faced by the country, such as people using foodbanks, the housing crisis, and pressurised NHS services, were not created by migrants and refugees, but by government policy, and that their removal was a distraction.

“It’s quite deliberate, they need to stop funding bogus schemes like the Rwanda plan, they’ved poured a quarter-of-a-billion pounds to date into that.”

The Rwanda plan is another Home Office scheme to move asylum seekers, this time to Africa, while their claims are processed. However, it has been held up in the courts without a single transfer being made.

Lucy described the conditions on the Bibby Stockholm barge and other similar accommodation as “prison-like” facilities that were poorly run and isolated.

Speaking on what action the government should take, Lucy said: “They need to stop these policies and they need to start looking after the people in Britain and all of the people who live in and amongst us and treat us with respect and dignity.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Home Office continues to provide safe accommodation for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute, as we work to end the use of hotels which are costing UK taxpayers £8.2million a day.

“Accommodation is allocated on a no-choice basis and individuals may be moved to other locations in line with the allocation of accommodation guidance.

“We will work closely with accommodation providers and local authorities to manage the exit process in a way which limits the impact on partners and service users alike.”

Local news needs your support

We are proud that we were at the forefront of reporting on the recent local elections. We can’t do this without the support of our readers.

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.