Anchal Vohra

The Roots of Anger at Britain’s Migrant Barge

But many residents of Portland don’t see it as a national saving but rather an imposition on a small town of 13,500. They complained that London chose to dock the barge on their shores because they were too far away as well as too small and too economically weak for their voices to be heard in the capital. There have been protests against the barge and counter protests against these protests. The opposition to asylum seekers here is emblematic of the larger opposition they face elsewhere in the U.K. and in Europe but with its particular set of local grievances that have contributed to an anti-refugee sentiment.