Police carried out immigration checks and reportedly arrested Deliveroo drivers in Stoke Newington on 1 March.
Motorbikes and other vehicles were stopped in a series of “extensive checks including apps on mobile phones” on the corner of Rectory Road and Stoke Newington as part of a “large operation”, according to community resistance group, Hackney Anti-Raids.
Witness, Francesca Humi, said a courier was taken to Stoke Newington police station to have his immigration status checked.
“Today a comrade and I supported a courier under arrest. To speak to the courier, I stood next to two cops. They told me I was ‘too close’ to them and that it was making them ‘uncomfortable’,” Humi wrote on Twitter.
“What I found so shocking is that these are agents of state violence using language of care against people trying to resist their violence. I’m making you uncomfortable at work? You are arresting people at work.”
These latest checks come as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the Illegal Migration Bill on 7 March to stop small boats from crossing the Channel.
Under the new legislation, the rights of asylum seekers to use a judicial review to challenge decisions would be constricted. There will also be an annual cap on the number of refugees who can be granted asylum in the UK through safe and legal routes.
The bill has been criticised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as a “clear breach of the refugee convention”, while Home Secretary Suella Braverman has admitted the bill is “more than 50%” likely to break human rights laws.
Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, tweeted: “Tories know perfectly well that their immigration bill is contrary to international human rights law.”
