UK protesters block bus in attempt to stop asylum seekers from being moved to a barge
On Thursday, protesters blocked a bus which was believed to have arrived in Peckam (southern London) to embark asylum-seekers bound for a controversial barge.
The Bibby Stockholm barge, a 222-room, three-storey boat was chartered by the UK government last year. It is currently moored off Dorset one of the UK’s poorest coastline communities.
The demonstrators slashed the tires of the bus before sitting on the road.
The bus that was eventully escorted without its anticipated passengers.
READ ALSO: UK migrant barge sparks debate on asylum seeker treatment
The Home Office, the UK’s interior ministry, has used the Bibby Stockholm barge, to try to cut the cost of sheltering people seeking protection in the country.
The Conservative government has said hosting asylum seekers in hotels “costs millions of taxpayers money every day” and seeks to cut the expenditures.
Legionella bacteria was found in barge’s water supply last year, prompting the evacuation of migrants and asylum seekers housed there.
