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Peckham: Man arrested on immigration charges released after protesters blocked van | UK News

A man arrested on immigration charges has been released after protesters arrived at the scene and attempted to “block” enforcement officers.

A group of people gathered in south-east London for hours to stop a vehicle the man was arrested in.

Footage from the scene shows a crowd sitting on the ground in front of a lorry in Peckham, while another clip shows members of the public shouting “let him go” to officers present .

Officers from city ​​police was called to Evan Cook Close shortly after 1:30 p.m. Saturday following reports of “protesters obstructing immigration officers”.

The man that immigration enforcement officers are trying to arrest is believed to be Nigerian and is suspected of overstaying his visa.

A Stand Up To Racism activist in south London, who only named her Nicola, said police had “abandoned” trying to arrest people at the scene.

She said: “The police tried to arrest some of the activists at the front, but they were held back by others also sitting down and the police gave up.

“And finally, after a lot of protest, the police announced that they would release him (who was arrested) and I don’t know it took about half an hour for them to actually open the door so we all stayed. and call for this to happen quickly.”

Authorities later said the arrested man had been released on bail.

A Met spokesman said: “Staff attended and found a lorry being prevented from leaving the site.

“A man has been arrested by immigration enforcement officers for immigration offences.”

‘We all sat down’

Eleanor Janega said people had been warned that an immigration raid was going on “so locals came down to block it”.

She added: “We were sitting here blocking the van and there was ice. They brought in more police and tried to break up the crowd by shoving us. We all sat down.”

Labor Councilor Reginald Popoola said people at the scene had surrounded the lorry “peacefully”, but claimed some people were jostled during the protest.

Referring to the man’s release on bail, Mr. Popoola said: “He’s been released, peaceful protest has power.”

‘Hindering them will not prevent them from performing their duties’

A spokesman for Interior Office “It is not acceptable to prevent immigration enforcement teams from doing their jobs,” he said.

“Preventing or impeding them will not prevent them from performing the duties that the public expects them to do properly.”

It comes as the government plans to send more than 30 people to Rwanda on Tuesday.

The Home Office said they had come to the UK illegally and they were being sent there to process their asylum claims.

On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that a flight bringing asylum seekers to the East African country could be made.

The Interior Department will schedule more flights this year.

Rwanda defended the plan, Ask it to be given “a chance”after Prince Charles is said to have privately called it “appalling”..

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