SOLIHULL was brought to a standstill yesterday and two people were arrested as a crowd of angry protesters staged a demonstration out-side the immigration building on Homer Road.
Police had to close the road for over 20 minutes as they struggled to maintain order in the face of the crowd which numbered over 200.
The action was against the immigration policy of the Home Office over deportation back to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"It is not fair to send people home after they have lived in the UK for five or six years," said Mango Hoto, one of the organisers of the demonstration.
"In some cases they are children who have never even been to Congo before, and the country is not a safe place to be."
A Border and Immigration Agency spokesperson said: "It is important for the integrity of our asylum system that any individual who is found not to be in need of international protection should be expected to leave the UK. We would only return those who are not at risk of persecution and do not need humanitarian protection."
The arrests occurred as the protest spilled out of the agreed location of the car park of the immigration building and onto Homer Road.
Superintendent James Andronov said: "We did have some prior notice but on the day it was a lot larger than we thought.
"On the whole it was good natured with people protesting about something that was emotive to them.
"We arrested two people, one was for sitting on the road and the other was for trying to impede officers ."
Both men taken in by the police were later released, one was without charge and the other was issued a penalty notice for a public order offence.
