Britain: Asylum seekers protest treatment at detention centres

Riot police and dog handlers were brought in to quell disturbances, which spread to four wings of the centre. Detainees lit fires to draw attention to their plight and at one stage spelled out the message “SOS Freedom” in the courtyard, using sheets from their dormitories. Although the centre was wrecked, no injuries to staff or detainees have been reported. Some 150 low-risk detainees have been released from other centres so that the inmates at Harmondsworth can be moved there.

One detainee, Diyako Rasul, an Iraqi asylum seeker, was put in detention seven months ago and is awaiting deportation after his asylum application was turned down. Rasul fled to the UK from Iraq in September 2003 after refusing to join an Islamic extremist group, of which his father is a member.

Rasul said people are regularly sworn at and verbally abused. “It’s terrible, there is nothing to do,” he said.

Rasul’s girlfriend, Joanne Bean, said she is worried about him as he has tried to harm himself, adding, “I think the way we are treating these people is disgraceful. Many have fled oppression in their homeland and this is the welcome they get.”

The Labour government and immigration agencies immediately sought to blame the migrants for the trouble. Lin Holmer, director general of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, said that the disturbances had been a “deliberate attempt” to prevent the

More
http://wsws.org/articles/2006/dec2006/uk-d09.shtml