More than a hundred people gathered in Manchester city centre today to protest government plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. As boisterous festival-goers queued at St Peter's Square Metrolink stop en route to Parklife, a protester pounded on a drum just yards away.
Amid the clash of cultures, there was something resembling a carnival spirit in the air outside Manchester Central Library. But the music soon gave way to impassioned speeches from activists slamming the government's deportation policy, which will see those who arrive in Britain illegally face deportation 4,000 miles away to Rwanda in east Africa.
Protesters carried placards and broke out into chants criticising the plan - put forward by Home Secretary Priti Patel in April - which is aimed at discourage people trying to cross the channel in small boats from northern France.
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The plans have been widely criticised on human rights grounds but a legal challenge to block the first one-way flight to Rwanda on Tuesday has been rejected by the High Court. A total of 31 people were due on the flight, although at least 15 of them have since had their tickets cancelled.
The Home Office is planning to schedule more flights to Rwanda later this year. An appeal against the High Court decision is due to be heard on Monday.
Once the speeches were over, protesters marched down Oxford Street and Portland Street chanting “refugees are welcome here” and calling for the flights to Rwanda to be stopped. Bemused passers-by watched on as protesters came to a halt on a set of tram tracks and took the knee in solidarity with the Black Lives Matters movement.
Minutes later, the rally came to a close in Piccadilly Gardens, where protesters mingled with festival-goers wearing bucket hats and bikini tops and a group demonstrating against the war in Ukraine. The demonstration was organised by several groups including Greater Manchester Stand Up To Racism, Care4Calais and Manchester Iranian Socialist Group.
Nahella Ashraf, co-chair of Greater Manchester Stand Up To Racism, said the purpose of the rally was to 'show solidarity' with those affected by the policy. She explained: "The reason we're here is because we want to show that we're absolutely disgusted by this new policy where basically the government want to ship people off on a one-way ticket to Rwanda.
"These are people that are really traumatised and vulnerable who have come to Britain looking for safety and they're being shipped off to a place, let's be honest, that has very little human rights, particularly for refugees.
"This is state-sponsored trafficking. They're paying the Rwandans to take these people. We as a country have a responsibility towards refugees and those seeking asylum."
Ms Ashraf added: "These people are part of our community. They're out brothers and sisters in the wider Manchester community and we will defend them.
Maddy Summerfield, Care4Calais's regional lead for Manchester and Cheshire, said the turnout was 'the biggest they had ever seen'. "This policy has really shocked people," she said.
"It's brought the community together. There must be about 200 people here. We've never had crowds like this ever.
"We are a city of sanctuary. The community does welcome refugees and the turnout today reflects that."
