A message of positivity was spread around Portland as asylum seekers arriving to Portland Port were welcomed with goodie bags and banners of support.

The Bibby Stockholm barge is by no means a popular policy, it has divided the local community over the language used to describe the asylum seekers who will inhabit it, but there is a widespread view that the barge is not a good idea.

Campaigners from Stand Up to Racism Dorset repeated their chant: "No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here", a message that despite all the controversy, they do not want asylum seekers to feel unwelcomed in their new home.

Portland Global Friendship Group also created welcome packs for all the asylum seekers who will be moving onto the barge, containing toiletries, a notepad, a map of Portland and a postcard with a number to call if they want support or to meet local people.

Campaigners who came to the port included people young and old, including a group of four young boys who joined campaigners at Portland Port to voice their feelings about housing asylum seekers on the barge and show support for the people who will be coming to Portland.

Among the campaigners was a young man named Baz, the son of an asylum seeker from Iraq.

He said: "My dad was an asylum seeker, I feel like it is very important to support them. Coming to this country with no friends can be very lonely so we need to make them feel that there is people to support them.

Baz told me that he has heard a lot of people talking about asylum seekers being "criminals" and feels personally offended by the ways asylum seekers are often talked about.

He said: "It angers me, it makes me feel uncontrollable, upset and disappointed. I find it offensive, it is a stereotype and it is not true. One asylum seeker does not represent the rest."