LAST UPDATE | 12 Jun 2022

PROTESTERS HAVE CONDEMNED the UK government’s decision to start sending migrants to Rwanda from next week.

Demonstrators shook the outer fence of an immigration removal centre in protest at the  policy — and people inside the facility appeared to be shouting back.

Scores of activists marched to the Brook House Immigration Removal Centre, close to Gatwick Airport, near Crawley, West Sussex.
Demonstrators condemned the government’s plans Victoria Jones / PA Victoria Jones / PA / PA

A High Court ruling on Friday paved the way for a flight to the east African country to go ahead on Tuesday, but an appeal against that decision is due to be heard tomorrow.

The immigration policy has come in for criticism from various groups, with even Prince Charles said to be “more than disappointed” by it, amid reports that he privately described the move to send migrants to Rwanda as “appalling”.

Clarence House has insisted Prince Charles “remains politically neutral”, despite reported private comments criticising the policy

At the protest, teacher Jane Fisher, of Croydon, south London, who volunteers with Care for Calais, which delivers emergency aid to refugees, told the PA news agency: “There is a young boy called Sami and he was from Afghanistan, his parents and his sister were blown up in a car bomb and he is 17 and he has come across.

“He is really frightened he is going to be sent to Rwanda.

“He keeps asking about it because the refuges don’t know what is happening.

“I meet some amazing people and all of them have got horrible stories.”

Abbas Artan, 24, an asylum seeker originally from Somalia who crossed from Calais to the UK in a small boat in October, says he has been living in limbo at the Radisson Red hotel near Gatwick Airport for the past eight months.

The boss of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), which represents more than 80% of Border Force staff, said the “legality of these proposals” must be tested, but added there is also a need to debate “the morality and lack of humanity that the Government is demonstrating” with its approach.

Up to 130 people have been notified they could be removed, and on Friday the court in London heard that 31 people were due on the first flight, with the Home Office planning to schedule more this year.

Challenge

The first claim against the policy was brought by lawyers on behalf of some asylum seekers alongside the PCS, as well as groups Care4Calais and Detention Action, which are challenging the policy on behalf of everyone affected.

Mr Justice Swift on Friday ruled against granting a temporary block to the policy until a full hearing next month, but granted the claimants permission to appeal against his decision, suggesting Court of Appeal judges would hear the case on Monday.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka told Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: “We hope we win tomorrow in the Court of Appeal to stop the flight (on Tuesday).

“But, of course, the legality of these proposals will only be tested out at the full court hearing in July.

“We’re absolutely confident that in July, in line with what the UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency) said very graphically in court, we believe these proposals will be found to be unlawful.”

He said Home Secretary Priti Patel would not ask civil servants to carry out the policy before its legality had been tested in court if she “had any respect, not just for the desperate people who come to this country, but for the workers she employs”.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis defended the government’s policy, saying it aims to “break” the “business model” of people smugglers.

Asked if he was personally comfortable with the policy, he told the same programme: “Yes, I am, actually.”

He said: “The reality is this is a policy that is going to deliver to ensure that modern slavery and these people smugglers know that their criminal methods will be broken down, and saying to people around the world ‘if you are a refugee, if you are an asylum seeker, if you are a legal migrant coming to this country, we want to give you the support to properly help you be part of the UK economy, part of the UK way of life, which is what you want’, and that’s right.”

He said it would not be “appropriate” to comment on “rumoured” criticism from Prince Charles.

Rwanda’s lead negotiator for the deportation agreement with the UK has said the country is ready to accept people in “tens of thousands”, but will start on a gradual basis.

She also defended Rwanda’s human rights record and said it was not illegal to be homosexual.

“Not at all, actually based on our history we understand the importance of protecting anybody from hate speech and discrimination, this is not tolerated in our society, the freedom from discrimination due to sexual orientation of a person is guaranteed in our constitution and the rule of law is there to enforce that.”