Campaigners infiltrated a Conservative party fundraiser demanding to know what happened to asylum-seeking children who have gone missing from hotels,
and calling for the resignation of the immigration minister, Robert Jenrick.
The 10 social justice activists from Green New Deal Rising, an organisation that campaigns for climate and social justice, posed as Tory loyalists to gain access to the event on Wednesday evening hosted by Hampstead and Kilburn Conservatives in north London.
As Jenrick began to speak three activists stood up. The first, Alaska Harrison, demanded answers after hundreds of children were reported by the Observer to have gone missing from hotels while in the care of the Home Office.
“Because of you, 222 children have gone missing from government facilities,” she said. “The Home Office was told this could happen but you did nothing.”
She and two other activists were swiftly escorted out of the building. Some members of the audience frowned while others smiled. Jenrick appeared to take the disruption in his stride and tried to start his speech a second time.
But more activists popped up from the audience variously accusing him of acting inhumanely and failing victims of the Windrush scandal. One activist called on both the home secretary, Suella Braverman, and Jenrick to resign immediately.
As the activists were escorted from the building by security, they chanted: “Justice for the children, justice for Windrush.”
Harrison said: “‘What this government and the Home Office is doing is unacceptable and inhumane. As the child of someone who was forcibly deported due to the government’s hostile environment, I know first-hand how damaging these attitudes and policies are.
“Regardless of your politics, everyone deserves safety and respect as a human being. I took action because I want the government to investigate and find these missing children, to stop and reverse these policies and to assist in reuniting other families like mine who they have forcibly separated.”
Fatima Ibrahim, co-director of Green New Deal Rising, said: ‘Those who stand for justice stand against this government and the rhetoric and actions they use to demonise people who are simply seeking safety. We believe it is the responsibility of our government to provide safety for people facing impossible situations.”
Last year the same group of activists infiltrated a Conservative event where the then home secretary Priti Patel was a keynote speaker.
A source close to Jenrick said: “Last night the minister spoke about and fielded questions on a wide range of issues including the contribution of the Windrush generation and asylum-seeking children. It is a shame that these individuals refused to engage in a grown up conversation.”
