A coach sent to collect asylum seekers and take them to the Bibby Stockholm barge has been surrounded by protesters in south London.
Dozens of demonstrators in Peckham blocked the coach before it was able to pick up passengers, by surrounding it on all sides.
About eight asylum seekers living at a Best Western hotel in Peckham were told a week ago that they would be collected on Thursday morning by coach to relocate to the Bibby Stockholm moored at Portland in Dorset, according to protesters.
The coach was then expected to collect other passengers along the way but has so far been unable to leave. The coach pulled up at about 8am on Thursday at Peckham Road bus stop before it was immediately surrounded by protesters.
It is understood the coach remains empty and the asylum seekers are still waiting at the hotel with Home Office staff.
By 9.30am there was a large police presence at the scene, with two territorial support group vans and eight police motorbikes attending, the protesters said.
One of the coordinators, Kojo Kyerewaa of Black Lives Matter, said: “Our friends who are at a Home Office hotel got notification that they were going to be taken to the Bibby Stockholm today.”
Kyerewaa said they were given a week’s notice and that “because of the bonds and relationships they’ve got in the community, we were made aware of that and organised a discreet action … so that they would not be abducted and taken away”.
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Kyerewaa said the protest was inspired by a similar one in Margate last week, where a coach was prevented from taking 22 asylum seekers to the barge.
“We know that the residents don’t want to leave and we know that the Bibby Stockholm is a dangerous place to put anyone. It’s unsanitary and one person has taken their own life being there and there’s been multiple attempts of suicide by people told that they’re going to the Bibby Stockholm.
“We have been organising to prevent that and it’s so far been successful. We’ve got at least 50 people blocking this coach on Peckham road right now.”
Some of those organising the action were from Black Lives Matter, while others were understood to be friends in the community, including those who taught the asylum seekers English at college.
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.