Yesterday, hundreds of people showed up outside the Home Office in London to voice their resistance to the government’s recently announced plan to force individuals with asylum claims in the UK to relocate to Rwanda.
The already widely criticised plan builds on well over a decade of a suite of policies—referred to as “hostile environment” immigration policies—directly aimed at making life in Britain undignified and dangerous for people in the immigration system. The Rwanda plan is the latest step in a steady escalation of hostile environment policies, notably including the recent Nationality and Borders Act.
At the demonstration, an energetic crowd displayed signs and chanted loudly in support of migrants and refugees. Following speeches denouncing the Home Office’s violent hostile environment, given by individuals involved in the fight for migrant justice, several demonstrators marched from the Home Office to Trafalgar Square, continuing chants of solidarity and resistance.
Alongside the hundreds of others who joined last night’s demonstration against the Rwanda plan, we will continue to organise to end the onslaught against migrants’ rights in Britain.
We know that the hostile environment in Britain is not inevitable or just, and that when we organise together, our people power is unlimited.