Hashtag #boycottbyron has gone viral after the popular burger chain was accused of laying an immigration trap for its workers.
Dozens of workers at Byron Burger were arrested in an “intelligence led” raid by immigration officials last night after staff were lured into thinking they were attending a training day.
Workers from at least 15 restaurants in the capital were called to the event only to discover the meeting was about their right to work in the UK.
Panicked staff then apparently asked a manager what was going on and got the reply: ‘We know what’s going on here. We prepared this’, according to Spanish news website El Iberico.
But there has been a public backlash following the raid, with a campaign to boycott the burger chain going viral.
While what @ByronHamburgers did might be “legal” it is also a morally reprehensible act of entrapment. #BoycottByron
— Daniellè DASH (@DanielleDASH) July 28, 2016
Twitter users have called the restaurant “morally repugnant” company and accused them of exploiting immigrants before deporting them. The full fall-out can be followed using hashtag #boycottbyron.
Exploit them then deport them: that's the Byron Burger way #boycottbyron https://t.co/SDYDdyU9Zj
— James (@LabourJames) July 27, 2016