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Anti-racists marched down Downing Street in London on Saturday to protest, among other things, the British government’s controversial plan to stop migrants crossing the English Channel by preventing those arriving from applying for asylum.
Around 2,000 people took part in the protests in London, many of them holding signs saying ‘no man is illegal’.
The government plans to ban asylum applications from anyone who comes to the country illegally. The people must next be arrested and deported “to their home country or a safe third country”, in an attempt to stop thousands of migrants from crossing the channel in small boats.
According to the proposal, exceptions must be made for minors, but only if they were not accompanied by an adult when they arrived in the country.
– The government is trying to make these people not only unwelcome but illegal. We cannot classify people as illegal, it is a racist policy from a racist government, said Mark Daly, one of the organizers of the demonstration, to the British news agency PA.
Other demonstrations were held in Glasgow and Cardiff.
Last year, more than 45,000 migrants came to the UK by crossing the English Channel in small boats.
Unicef has previously expressed “deep concern” about the potential impact of the proposed rules on minors.