On 2 May 2024, protestors acted to prevent the transfer of asylum-seekers to the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland Port, Dorset.

The barge was controversially used to hold asylum-seekers from August 2023 until it was shut down in November 2024. Conditions on board the barge were described as a “living nightmare” and a “human rights disaster”. There was an outbreak of legionella bacteria, overcrowding and tragically, the death by suicide of one asylum-seeker.

The protest on 2 May 2024 included individuals sitting in front of a coach which had been commissioned to take asylum-seekers from a hotel in Peckham to the barge.

In a two-day trial at City of London Magistrate’s Court in March 2024, Dharsha successfully advanced the argument that conviction of her client for their involvement in the protest would be a disproportionate interference with their Article 10/11 rights. Her client had been at the protest since the early hours of the day but could only be said to be on the road in front of the coach for less than a half hour prior to arrest and during a period prior to the road having become fully blocked. The Judge agreed with the submission on Ziegler factors and acquitted Dharsha’s client.

In April 2024, again at City of London Magistrate’s Court, Dharsha represented a different client who had been part of the protest on May 2nd. Again, her client had been present at the protest since the early hours in the day, but Dharsha obtained key admissions from officers that her client was only ever seen walking around, at times on the pavement, at times in the road, but never sat down. Dharsha also effectively cross-examined a senior officer obtaining the admission that at the relevant time her client was arrested, the enforcement action was focused primarily on protestors directly surrounding the coach. At half-time Dharsha made a submission that the Prosecution had not made out the obstruction element of the offence, which the Judge allowed. Her client was acquitted of the charge of obstruction of the highway.

In the first case, Dharsha was instructed by Zachary Whyte of Sperrin Law and co-defended with Audrey Cheryl Mogan of Garden Court Chambers, and Jessica Atkinson of HJA.  In the second case she was instructed by Claire Dissington of GT Stewart and co-defended with Tom Wainwright of Garden Court Chambers.