A man arrested for immigration offenses has been released on bail after protesters gathered in south-east London on Saturday for hours to block the exit of a van where he was being transported.
Video footage posted on Twitter showed a crowd of about 200 people sitting on the ground in front of the vehicle in Peckham, while another clip showed members of the audience standing and shouting “let go.”
Metropolitan police officers were called to Evan Cook Close, near Queens Road train station, shortly after 1:30 p.m. to say that the agents remained at the scene shortly before 5 p.m.
A spokesman for the force said: “Officers attended and found that a van was blocked from leaving the scene.
“A man has been arrested for immigration offenses.”
The Met later said the man was arrested by immigration officers and has since been released on bail.
Eleanor Janega, 39, from south-east London, told PA News Agency: “We were alerted to an immigration raid in progress, so locals went down to block it. .
“We were sitting here blocking the van and making ice sticks.
“They brought in more cops and tried to break up the crowd by pushing us. We all sat down.”
Reginald Popoola, a local Labor councilor, said people had “surrounded the van peacefully” but that some were pushed during the demonstration.
Popoola added: “He is being released, the peaceful protest is powerful.”
Claudia Webbe, an independent Leicester East MP, praised the “humanity and solidarity” of protesters on Twitter:
“That’s the power of people, so beautiful to see.”
Lewisham Anti-Raids tweeted: “After 4 hours of resistance and a crowd of 200 people, let our neighbor go! People’s power is gaining. We are shouting ‘don’t go back to Peckham’.”