On 1st August 2023, These Walls Must Fall campaigners delivered a letter to the headquarters of the Bibby Stockholm barge in Liverpool.
Campaigners, along with members of Merseyside Solidarity Knows No Borders, delivered the letter to Bibby Line Group. The letter was addressed to Jonathon Lewis, the CEO of the Bibby Line Group and called on him to reconsider the decision of leasing out of the Bibby Stockholm barge to the government. The letter reads:
We are writing to you to remind you that your company is profiteering from human misery and potentially risking the lives of hundreds of people in blatant and shocking contradiction of the claims you make to be providing ‘high standards and safe, functional and comfortable accommodation’.
This is not the way to welcome and support those fleeing war, oppression and torture. People have and always will move to seek a better life, and deserve to live in dignity and be treated with humanity, because no-one is illegal.
Do the right thing, stop chasing profit at any human cost, add your voice to all those who are calling upon the Home Office to cancel their plans to incarcerate people in conditions that violate their human rights!
This letter encapsulates our community’s opposition to the housing of people seeking asylum in the Bibby Stockholm barge. We believe that the use of a floating prison to house vulnerable people is inhumane. There are a number of concerns: fire safety, an overcrowded barge, health risks and further mental harm towards people seeking asylum who may already have trauma linked to boats.
Right to Remain, Save Liverpool Women’s Hospital, Left Unity and Polish Migrants Organise for Change were some of the signatories of the letter.
Celine, a longstanding These Walls Must Fall campaigner, delivered the letter alongside other campaigners. She shared her thoughts about the Bibby Stockholm barge:
“It makes me sad that Liverpool, a City of Sanctuary that has always welcomed people seeking asylum, is home to the company that owns the Bibby barge. I hope with all the pressure that is being put on Bibby, because of fire hazards and the Legionnaires disease, that the prison barge will be scrapped from being used.”
We want to make this world a more welcoming place for us all, including people seeking asylum, refugees and migrants – so we will continue to campaign until we achieve this goal Spread the word and encourage more people to stand in solidarity with people seeking asylum, because migration is life and these walls must fall.