PORTLAND: Britain on Monday began housing migrants on board a barge docked off the southwest English coast, in its latest controversial immigration policy that has drawn heavy criticism from locals and rights campaigners.
The “Bibby Stockholm,” which has been moored for weeks in Portland on the Dorset coastline, accepted the first of up to 500 young, male inhabitants due to stay there, after a series of delays.
The decision to dock the vessel in Portland, a small island with a population of about 13,600 people, has prompted a backlash from some locals, including its Conservative MP, who argue the area is ill-suited to the task.
Rights advocates have also hit out at the policy, saying the barge is unfit for the purpose, with protesters from either side showing up at the waterfront site in recent weeks.
It was previously used by Germany and the Netherlands to house homeless people and asylum-seekers, but opponents in Britain have noted it was previously described as an “oppressive environment.”
The firefighters’ union last week called for an urgent meeting with the interior ministry over safety concerns raised, but officials have said it passed all necessary checks.
The UK government, which is trying to lower the costs of housing asylum claimants following a surge in cross-Channel arrivals aboard small boats in recent years, has insisted it is suitable.
Britain’s asylum system backlog had ballooned to more than 130,000 by the end of March. The bill to house those applicants and other migrant arrivals has spiralled to more than £6 million a day, according to officials, as they resort to using hotels and other temporary accommodation.
“The government thinks it is right to find alternatives that are cheaper and more cost effective,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman told reporters Monday. “We think this is one alternative.”
Sunak’s government is also seeking to deter migrants through a new “illegal migration” law, enacted last month, which bars asylum claims by all arrivals via the Channel and other “illegal” routes.
It also mandates their transfer to third countries, such as Rwanda.
But both policies are on-hold amid a court challenge over the legality of sending migrants to east Africa.
The United Nation’s refugee agency has condemned the new rules as a “breach of international law” and warned it would expose refugees to “grave risks.”
Sunak’s spokesman said the UK leader remained committed to his pledge to “stop the boats.”
“That’s the long-term aim of the Rwanda migration partnership and the new legal powers the government has sought,” he said.
Contentious barge docked on UK coast begins hosting first migrants
https://arab.news/czt35
Contentious barge docked on UK coast begins hosting first migrants
- “Bibby Stockholm” accepted the first of up to 500 young, male inhabitants due to stay there, after a series of delays
US warns UK to stop arresting Palestine Action supporters
- Undersecretary of state for diplomacy: Arrests doing ‘more harm than good’ and ‘censoring’ free speech
- Group was banned in July 2025 after series of break-ins
LONDON: UK authorities should stop arresting protesters showing support for banned group Palestine Action, the White House has warned.
The US undersecretary of state for diplomacy said arrests are doing “more harm than good” and are “censoring” free speech.
Sarah Rogers told news site Semafor: “I would have to look at each individual person and each proscribed organization. I think if you support an organization like Hamas, then depending upon whether you’re coordinating, there are all these standards that get applied.
“This Palestine Action group, I’ve seen it written about. I don’t know what it did. I think if you just merely stand up and say, ‘I support Palestine Action’, then unless you are really coordinating with some violent foreign terrorist, I think that censoring that speech does more harm than good.”
So far, more than 2,000 people have been arrested in the UK for showing support for the group.
It was banned in July 2025 after a series of break-ins nationwide, including at a facility owned by a defense manufacturer and a Royal Air Force base, during which military aircraft were damaged.
Last year, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was among those arrested while protesting for Palestine Action.
The group is challenging its ban, saying it should not be compared to terrorist organizations such as the Irish Republican Army, Daesh or Al-Qaeda.
The ban has been criticized by numerous bodies, with Amnesty International calling it a case of “problematic, overly broad and draconian restrictions on free speech.”
In Scotland, prosecutors have been offering to drop charges against some protesters in return for accepting a fine of £100 ($134.30).
Adam McGibbon, who was arrested at a demonstration in Edinburgh last year, refused the offer, saying: “The fact that the authorities are offering fines equivalent to a parking ticket for a ‘terrorism offence’ shows just how ridiculous these charges are. Do supporters of (Daesh) get the same deal?
“I refuse to pay this fine, as has everyone else I know who has been offered one. Just try and put all 3,000 of us who have defied this ban so far in jail.”
Rogers said the UK is also wrong to arrest people using the phrase “globalize the intifada” while demonstrating in support of Palestine, after police in Manchester said in December that it would detain people chanting it.
“I’m from New York City where thousands of people were murdered by jihadists,” she said. referring to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “I don’t want an intifada in New York City, and I think anyone who does is disgusting, but should it be legal to say in most contexts? Yes.”
