Asylum seekers have been forced to return to the Bibby Stockholm barge ten weeks after an outbreak of legionella forced them to evacuate.
Some 39 migrants were moved off the vessel in August just days after they were moved on after the bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s disease was discovered in its water supply.
Now, some of the original 39 asylum seekers have arrived at Portand Port in Dorset and will be moved back on to the barge. Protest group Just Stop Oil temporarily held up the coach that the migrants arrived in by sitting down in the road in front of it.
Some of the asylum seekers, who have a history of torture and modern slavery, have had their transfers delayed or cancelled because they have brought legal challenges agaisnt the government to prevent them being sent back on.
More migrants have received notices that they will be moved onto the vessel on Friday and next Monday.
Asylum seekers who were brought to the port on Thursday were greeted by anti-racism protesters holding signs saying “scrap the prison barge”. Care packages prepared by local community groups for the asylum seekers, which included toiletries, were refused by Portland Port, the campaigners said.
While the government’s notices to asylum seekers of their move onto the barge in August were unaddressed and sent with little notice, the transfers have been better prepared this time.
Asylum seekers have been given seven days of their move and were told that they could seek legal advice.
The new notices made clear that “accommodation is offered on a no choice basis” and warned migrants that they may be required to share a room. Asylum seekers will also be required to sign in and out of the site when they leave and return, the Home Office said.
Steve Smith, the CEO of refugee charity Care 4 Calais, said: “Following legal challenges, the government has made administrative changes to the transfer notices but the problems with the Bibby Stockholm are intractable and cannot be fixed.
“They people who were on the barge during the legionella outbreak have consistently told us that being on board was like being detained in a prison.”
Matilda Bryce, from charity Freedom from Torture, said: “We’ve warned this government time and time again that packing refugees onto barges is a mental and physical health catastrophe waiting to happen.
“And, after only a few days on board, refugees who were taken off the Bibby in August spoke of the severe and damaging impact it had on them.”
Six Labour MPs have written to the home secretary Suella Braverman to request urgent access to the Bibby Stockholm to assess living conditions on the vessell.
They said: “We are concerned that conditions on the boat will continue to be or grow to be inadequate and potentially dangerous without full transparency and scrutiny. We are also concerned that the barge is in effect or will become a place of quasi-detention rather than safe accommodation.”
More to follow…