‘Compassion for the most vulnerable’: bishop thanks protesters who blocked asylum coaches

The bishop said she was ‘heartened to see [compassion] in action in Margate’ after protesters successfully blocked Home Office coaches in late April. Photograph: PA

A prominent Church of England bishop has praised the protesters who successfully disrupted Home Office attempts to move asylum seekers to the Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset.

Using words which could put her in conflict with Downing Street, the Right Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the former chaplain to the late queen and the House of Commons, thanked the local people who had blocked buses and said: “Our Lord showed compassion for the most vulnerable.”