POLICE arrested an activist protesting peacefully against the UK government’s harsh new immigration law on Tuesday evening.
Tigs Louis-Puttick, founder of the migrant rights organisation Reclaim The Sea, and others protested outside the Home Office as Parliament passed the government’s Illegal Migration Bill.
The law will ban anyone who arrives into the country irregularly, including unaccompanied children, from seeking asylum in the UK, and seeks to deport them to a third country.
“Last night, I was arrested for standing in the road outside the Home Office with a sign saying ‘Refugees Welcome’ and ‘No to the Immigration Bill, No Floating Prisons,’ Ms Louis-Puttick said today.
She said the arresting officer did not seem sure under which order he was arresting her.
“At first he repeatedly mentioned Section 12 — a condition officers can impose on a protest causing significant public disorder — but later said that ‘this was nothing to do with Section 12’.
“He was also Googling what Section 12 was while trying to get me out of the road.”
Ms Louis-Puttick, who is also operational coordinator for the Mediterranean refugee rescue organisation Sea-Watch, aid that traffic was free-flowing at the time of her arrest.
“I was detained for obstructing the highway despite not creating a traffic disturbance, and letting all public vehicles pass.
“I was held for eight hours and have now been released on bail.
“Throughout my arrest and detention, I was aware – as a white, English-speaking, middle-class cis-woman – that I was being treated better than most people seeking asylum are treated when they arrive in the UK.
“This incident demonstrates not only how far refugee rights have been eroded in the UK – with the Immigration Bill in question being one of the most anti-refugee pieces of legislation in this country’s history – but also how the right to protest is under attack.”
The Metropolitan Police told The Civil Fleet that they arrested a woman outside the Home Office last night.
The Illegal Migration Bill has been widely condemned by international human rights organisations, including the UN’s top human rights and refugee officials, who yesterday called on the government to reverse it.
The law, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said, “sets a worrying precedent for dismantling asylum-related obligations that other countries, including in Europe, may be tempted to follow, with a potentially adverse effect on the international refugee and human rights protection system as a whole.”
Top image shows a police officer Googling Section 21 as Tigs Louis-Puttick protests outside the Home Office [Pic: Reclaims The Sea]
The Civil Fleet 