The woman was pleading for law enforcement to release her daughter
A woman was seen lying in front of an immigration van in London Chinatown during a Home Office raid.
During a raid by the UK Home Office in London Chinatown, a woman was seen protesting by lying in front of the immigration van.
Video footage of the woman pleading with officers from the Home Office has been circling social media. In the clips, the woman is seen begging the officers and lying in the road to prevent the immigration van from moving.
In a post on Facebook, Kalam Tang described the incident. “Home office immigration officers now make weekly visits to the business in London Chinatown,” Tang wrote. “They wreak havoc on the daily lives of the business owners and employees of the community.”
According to Tang, the woman was pleading with officers to release her daughter. “A lady pleads to the officers to let her daughter go,” Tang continued. “She pleads in front of the van.”
Tang added that the van hit the woman and law enforcement man handled the woman and other protesters.
“The driver reacts by driving the van forward and hitting her, in an attempt to get her to move,” Tang said. “The lady, as well as other protesters, are then man handled by the officers.”
“The Chinese community is being aggressively targeted, and it is unacceptable.”
Some commentaries were sympathetic towards the woman and criticised the heavy hand of the law enforcement.
“They love our Chinese food but they don’t want to let the businesses bring in people to cook and serve it who will do nothing but work hard and pay taxes the whole time they’re here,” Daniel York wrote.
“Sad. It was only a matter of time,” wrote Sincere Parks. “They are going to terrorize anyone that isn’t white, it seems, at this point. I hope she is ok and I hope she sues and wins.”
“They’ve been trying to gentrify Chinatown and Soho for years now,” commented Karinna Deller. “They’ve managed to get rid of businesses that don’t appeal to tourists, now they’re trying to get rid of people too.”
However, others were less sympathetic and criticised the woman for her illegal status in the country.
“Sorry but the Immigration Officers must have a valid reason to take the woman’s daughter away,” commented Wai Lee. “Don’t think they’re randomly picking ppl for the sake of it. No matter whether it’s the Uk,USA, HK or any country in the world. No visa or work permit, no stay. Simple”
Alex Lieng wrote, “I feel for the lady pleading with the immigration but rules are rules.”
“I didn’t see any unreasonable thing about actions taken by NCL police,” Fu-You Hsieh commented. “She’s illegal immigrants so no reason to treat her any special… if you want to stay please do the process everyone have done!”
Some even questioned whether the woman even got hit by the immigration van.
“She didt [sic] get hit by the van , she stood in front to stop it and don’t let it pass,” commented Monika Ostrowska. “Not that they drive over her come on !!!”
“I’ve viewed a number of different footage of this incident,” commented Wai Lee. “Not in any of them I’ve seen the woman been ran over.”
Van driver Kai Fai Chung commented on the restricted view of the driver. “There is protesting then there is jumping in front of a van. Of course the officers have a duty to clear the path. If you throw yourself in the middle of road, they have no choice than to handle her. I drive a van for work and if something moves to below the front bumper, you can not see it there. In that scuffle, the driver probably did not notice the woman go down to that position.”
“The reason there are so many visits is that they know they will catch illegal immigrants. No other reason.”
Others sympathised with the woman despite accepting her status in the country.
Dominic Brant wrote, “Please, everybody Think about the bigger picture. Illegals are often here for deeply difficult reasons. Yes, they will get deported, but argue about the reasons they are here, not the police catching ‘criminals’.”
“Sick of people saying rules are rules,” Leet Zord wrote. “People come here to work hard. It’s hard to get documentation these days, even if you know the English language. Fill out hundreds of pages and do a test, and you still might not get in. You’re just lucky you’re born in to a nice environment and can speak the local lingo, and immigration was a lot less tough before so you managed to get documentation way easier.”
“Some of these people come here with no money. Just for a biometric pass, it costs nearly £400. Many of us are descended from immigrants or are immigrants, have some sympathy. And who will run Chinese restaurants in Chinatown? Not many non-Chinese. They should help these people get documentation, not treat them like animals. Chinese takeaways and restaurants are closing in bulk, and we’re going to lose our standing as a major cultural cuisine soon.”