Revolt in Harmondsworth detention centre
Nov 30 2006 09:31
Does anyone have any more info. Hope there will be some solidarity actions...
*WARNING* The following BBC article is fucking disgusting and written wholly from the side of an arse. Your blood pressure will rise:
Nov 30 2006 10:18
#2
i switched on the tv this morning and watched a couple of minutes of the wright stuff on C5 to here some squat little cunt describing how they would be releasing 150 "low-risk" inmates from other detention centres to accomdate these ones...low risk of what? wanting a better life?
Nov 30 2006 10:27
#3
IMC post is useful, the media really doesnt seen to be getting anything on this. Quite scary really!
Nov 30 2006 10:29
#4
Places to watch next will be Colnbrook (next door to Harmondsworth. If they haven’t kicked off already they may well do so soon, there have in the past been links between inmates at the facilities. If I get time (not promising anything) I’ll try and get hold of a couple of contacts and see if anything is happening there.
Nov 30 2006 10:41
#5
What was that one a couple of years back where inmates rioted and burned it down?
Nov 30 2006 10:44
#6
apparently the Prison Inspectors report on Harmondsworth said that detainees were being treated on a par with high-security inmates. Then a guard switched off the TV when the news story reporting the report was being watched in Harmondsworth. What a total bunch of cunts!
Nov 30 2006 10:53
#7
Quote:
What was that one a couple of years back where inmates rioted and burned it down?
Well Colnbrook only opened in Aug 2004 so I’m guessing not, I think a section of Yarl’s Wood might have been burned down around then but it’s a big place so it wasn’t put out of commission or anything, at east not permanently.
I ran a series on it last year when Mark Barnsley was away, shortly after those No Borders demonstrations kicked off, and from what I heard speaking to support groups and the odd inmate that could speak English, the whole place was ready to blow even then – suicides or attempts once or twice a week, multiple rape victims allegedly getting rushed in early morning cell inspections by male officers, assaults, lack of legal aid for inmates, clampdowns on communications by the government.
Nov 30 2006 10:59
#8
i was involved in the campaign against campsfield detention centre near oxford for couple years and that was emotionally taxing time, hats off to whoever who works on those issues.
damn these things piss me off no end, get me so fucking angry i cant have a rational discussion about immigration with anyone without snapping -> bad mood today 
Nov 30 2006 11:19
#9
Just come up on PA, a fire broke out at Lindholme Immigration Removal Centre, in Hatfield Woodhouse, near Doncaster, in the early hours of this morning.
Nov 30 2006 11:24
#10
Saii wrote:
Quote:
What was that one a couple of years back where inmates rioted and burned it down?Well Colnbrook only opened in Aug 2004 so I’m guessing not, I think a section of Yarl’s Wood might have been burned down around then but it’s a big place so it wasn’t put out of commission or anything, at east not permanently.
That was the one. Over £2m damage though.
Nov 30 2006 13:08
#11
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6159347.stm
Reid's got his thinking hat on again, apparently prisoners spelling out 'help' with bedsheets means only one thing: Immigration Terrorism! Gotta love the calm, measured and civillised attitude towards those most in need eh?
This closely followed by the even more sensible Tory minister saying Reid's being stupid by splitting the rowdy prisoners away from the main group - I'm starting to hope the tories win if their responses tend towards subtlety of that order...
Nov 30 2006 13:16
#12
"They have, themselves, harmed their own environment."
imagine that
harming that lovely environment that they so obviously chose for themselves
Dec 1 2006 02:09
#13
pardon (especially if someone's already mentioned this), as i'm a bit unsure about the nature of Harmondsworth. an immigration detention centre - so, in other words, this is where illegal immigrants go if cops catch them (ie, their only "crime" is going into the country illegally?) ? at first, when i started reading the stuff, i thought it was a criminal prison, realized this wasnt the case part way through.
sorry for being such a twit 
Dec 1 2006 08:27
#14
they havent necessarily been caught by cops and are not illegal immigrants.
Basically many of them have entered the country in what ever means, claimed asylum and during the application process when they have to visit an immigration centre on a regular basis they get snatched and sent to one of these prisons to wait to be deported. Many wont, if they are lucky enough to get some sound legal advice. But since most wont get that, they are fucked.
Like one guy i knew he lived in UK for almost two years and worked in mcdonalds until suddenly he got snatched when he visited the immigration centre for a regular check up and got banged into campsfield immigration prison where he was held for another 1.5 years. he was only 18, and didnt have any family or help, so he tried to kill himself couple times by slashing his wrists and once by burning himself. When an activist from the campsfield campaign looked into his case it was clear that he had a sound case (being gay in zimbabwe and personal persecution) and he got a permanent leave to remain. Has this activist not stumbled to his case he would have been deported.
Dec 1 2006 09:48
#15
Don't worry Feighnt. It's hardly surprising you got the wrong idea from the media coverage; after all, the BBC and other mainstream reports offer practically no contextualisation of the issues or information about why people are detained.
It's now dropped off the news now agenda, anyway, so I can only assume those nasty little disturbances have been amicably resolved.
Dec 1 2006 10:00
#16
JDMF wrote:
they havent necessarily been caught by cops and are not illegal immigrants.
Technically they are illegal immigrants though then right? Not that that makes any difference, but still.
Dec 1 2006 10:14
#17
John. wrote:
JDMF wrote:
they havent necessarily been caught by cops and are not illegal immigrants.Technically they are illegal immigrants though then right? Not that that makes any difference, but still.
yeah from our perspective it doesnt make a difference, but actually many of the detainees have not entered the country illegally at all. They have come in like asylum seekers usually do and upon entering the country they claim themselves as asylum seekers and start the application process.
many of the detainees have done everything by the book: they have done all the paperwork for an asylum application, made their case, jumped through all the fucking hoops, done all their stupid weekly or fortnightly check ups etc etc, and then suddenly they get banged up for what ever bullshit reason there is (application likely to fail and asylum seeker is a flight risk, detention quota not met from that office for that month etc).
Dec 1 2006 10:41
#18
Quote:
the centre, housing 482 residents.
Sounds pretty cushy to me 
Which was the centre that got burnt down really soon after it was opened? I remember a figure of £25M and arguments along the lines of "this is what happens when we don't put them in prison"
Dec 1 2006 10:46
#19
Dec 1 2006 13:43
#20
thanks for the information...
this is bloody disgusting! 
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/11/357282.html