Labour mayor who led bus-blocking protest to stop migrants being taken to Bibby ... trends now
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A Labour mayor who led a bus-blocking protest to stop migrants being taken to the Bibby Stockholm barge has called for more disruption.
Rob Yates, the Mayor of Margate in Kent, said: 'We are ready to do this again.'
Mr Yates organised a group of demonstrators to block a Home Office coach trying to transport asylum seekers from a Margate hotel to the floating hotel in Dorset.
His protest came ahead of Thursday's stand-off in London that saw fierce clashes with police and 45 demonstrators arrested after they successfully blocked a similar coach for more than six hours.
Mr Yates's protest in Margate on Sunday was less dramatic, but it prevented the coach transporting 22 men from Afghanistan and Pakistan who had been living in the town for seven months. Not only was the coach blocked on the day, but the Home Office has now abandoned attempts to try again.
It has written to the migrants at the hotel in Margate saying: 'The formal notice to quit the property is now withdrawn.'
Labour and co-op councillor for Margate Central, Rob Yates (undated)
A protester is detained by police officers protesting outside a hotel in Peckham, May 2
Mr Yates, a former wind farm worker, said: 'We tried to avoid shouting or disrupting traffic while blocking the coach, resulting in no police involvement and hopefully helped to make the men in the hotel feel safe.
'Going forwards, we're ready to do this again. Community activism
