A view of signage for the Home Office in Westminster, London (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)
(Picture: PA Archive)Asylum seekers have staged a protest inside a hotel after being told they were leaving London for a new site in Bedforshire,
Dozens of them reportedly took part in the demonstration at Greenwich where they had been living for a year-and-a-half.
The Guardian reported more than 130 asylum seekers were told they would be moving and said they were being uprooted at short notice.
One of them told the newspaper they had no “prior notice”, adding: “I fled war in my country. I have just started to rebuild my life here and now I have to be uprooted again.”
Another asylum seeker, from Eritrea, said they had agreed to move despite not wanting to because they felt they had no choice.
He said he would lose touch with a support network he had built up at a local Eritrean church, adding: “I was part way through a maths GCSE at the local college.
“I won’t be able to continue with that now. I feel like time is slipping away from me.”
It comes as legal action is being considered to stop dozens of Afghan refugee families being moved from the capital to the north of England.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We continue to provide safe accommodation for destitute asylum seekers who need it as we work to end the use of hotels, which are costing UK taxpayers almost £6m a day.
“Individuals housed in our accommodation may be moved to other locations in line with the allocation of accommodation guidance.”
