Brief History of Resistance in Detention

From Noborders Network Wiki

Introduction

While demonstrations and any kind of protest outside detention centres gets much publicity, the ongoing protest within detention is either ignored or unknown. Not only in the mainstream media, which generally reduces protests in detention to mere "riots" or to dissatisfaction with details of imprisonment instead of accepting it as a part of a political struggle, but also in the social movement. There are acts of solidarity but while writing a first chronology of the protests of the last decade, we discovered a history of mass protests which is not mentioned in the recent "movement history" at all. This is a chronology of acts of resistance in detention centres in the UK during the last decade; it is neither complete nor necessarily correct, it is a work in progress. If you feel we missed something out, please contact us and contribute to this ongoing project.

London NoBorders, June 2008

(updated timeline january 2009)

1990 - 2000

HMP Rochester, 1996 17 May in Rochester Prison (Rochester has on average 150 asylum seekers in its cells). Prison Riot Police broke up a peaceful protest by 69 asylum Seekers on 'D' Wing. Notices were put up in the prison on the 16 May saying that the detainees would be locked up for 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday. The asylum seekers refused to go back into their cells at 20.30 hours on the 16 May. They sat peacefully outside. At no time were the warders under any threat from the detainees. Yet at 01.30 hours on the 17 May Prison riot police stormed 'D' Wing smashed furniture and forced all the detainees into cells. Some detainees offered passive resistance by rolling themselves into a ball.Ten detainees barricaded themselves into a cell. Many of the detainees received minor injuries.

http://www.ncadc.org.uk/archives/filed%20newszines/oldnewszines/Old%201-50/news3/green2.html

May 1997, HMP Winson Green, Birmingham 15 asylum seekers interned in HMP Birmingham began a Hunger Strike on Monday 5th May 1997 http://www.ncadc.org.uk/archives/filed%20newszines/oldnewszines/Old%201-50/news7/green.html

May 1997, Campsfield ...all the Algerians in Campsfield, and a few others, climbed up onto a small high roof, demanding their friend's release (after he was transferred to Winson Green Prison). They spent 34 hours on the roof with a little food and some blankets passed to them by other detainees. Attempts by Group 4 guards in riot gear to remove them were abandoned when they threatened to throw themselves off the roof. About 80 other detainees broke out through a gate into a yard next to the outer fence. Demonstrators from the Campaign to Close Campsfield and Students against Campsfield spent the night there to support them and were able to shout across the fence to them. Dr. Evan Harris, the new local Liberal Democrat MP, came during the night and again the following day and was eventually allowed in to talk to a Group 4 manager; he tried to gain an assurance that the detainees would not be removed to prison if they came down peacefully. But no negotiations took place with the protesters, and eventually they were forced down by the cold. http://www.ncadc.org.uk/archives/filed%20newszines/oldnewszines/Old%201-50/news7/campsfield.html

Campsfield 1997: Early on August 20 1997, this happened yet again. Two West African asylum seekers at Campsfield were woken, as usual without warning, to be removed to prison. One of them resisted; detainees saw him pinned to the ground and thought he was being strangled and "was going to die". Some of them protested at this treatment. Parts of the premises were then burnt and damaged and, as on previous occasions, 50 or 60 detainees escaped into a courtyard.

During the day special riot police arrived from all over the country, marched up to the gates in military-style formation, chanting and occupied the courtyard, next to the entrance. Armed riot police standing on the top of Land Rovers, surrounded the camp to prevent escapes. Late that evening, Group 4 negotiators, some of them black, succeeded in persuading the detainees to abandon their protest.

http://www.ncadc.org.uk/archives/filed%20newszines/oldnewszines/Old%201-50/news8/camps2.html

Campsfield, November 1999 On Sunday 14th November 1999, at 7.00am, two asylum seekers from India climbed onto the roof of Campsfield Detention Centre. Later in the day the were joined on the roof by another 18 asylum seekers form India. One had been in detention for 15 months, the other 11 months. Their demands were that they had been in detention far too long and should be released immediately. They were also protesting against the extortionate bail demands being made by the Home Office. Asylum seekers in Campsfield making bail applications are being required to lodge sureties of £10,000. This is an impossible amount for people who mostly arrive penniless in the UK and who have no friends or relatives rich enough to deposit these outrageous sums. At 6.00pm all the protesters came down from the roof and were temporally detained in the visitors room before being returned to general circulation. In a welcome change from previous policy none of the protesters was disciplined for their action. Over the last 5 years detainees at Campsfield have regularly been moved to prisons following protests. http://www.ncadc.org.uk/archives/filed%20newszines/oldnewszines/Old%201-50/news17/camps.html

2001

September 2001, Haslar and other centres Hunger Strikes and MUFTI attack at Haslar On 7 September, the courts ruled that four asylum seekers were detained illegally, purely for administrative convenience. The ruling, however, only applied to the 4 inmates at Oakington detention centre. Inmates at other centres - Campsfield, Harmondsworth, Lindholme, Rochester and Haslar protested with hunger strikes All passed off peaceably, except at Haslar. On Sunday the 9th September, detainees at Haslar started their hunger strike and also refused to return to their dormitories. Instead of letting the protest run its course (as in other establishments). on Monday the 10th September, the Governor of Haslar called in the MUFTI squads, ("Mufti - Minimum Use of Force Tactical Intervention. Prison officers dressed in full riot gear, trained to deal with riot situations."). Detainees were forcibly returned to their dormitories. On Tuesday 11th, 28 of the detainees with out being charged were moved to criminal prisons (this is known as a punishment move). http://www.ncadc.org.uk/archives/filed%20newszines/oldnewszines/Old%201-50/news24/mufti2.html

December 2001: Yarls Wood - Hunger Strike In December 2001 just after opening the first hunger strike began with five Roma detainees refusing to eat.

2002

March 2002 - Harmondsworth On the night of Wednesday 20th February, nine asylum seekers have given themselves temporary admission to the UK by going over the wall at Harmondsworth Detention Centre. The next day, Thursday 21st, *MUFTI squads were brought in from HMP Feltham, ostensibly to 'assist' Sodhexo staff, who run Harmondsworth. On Friday, detainees who had been moved to Harmondsworth from prisons were returned to prisons. In the process it is alleged that one of the detainees was punched and kicked, it is not know at this stage, if it was Sodexho staff, members of the MUFTI squad or staff of Wackenhut, who move the detainees, who caused the injuries.

• MUFTI - Minimum Use of Force Tactical Intervention. In reality, prison officers dressed in full riot gear.

http://www.ncadc.org.uk/archives/filed%20newszines/oldnewszines/Old%201-50/news25/free.html

9 April 2002: More than 40 asylum seekers being held in Scotland have today gone on hunger strike. The action at Dungavel Detention Centre in LAnvarkshire is in protest at a) the length of time it is taking to resolve their cases and also conditions where: b) two men have attempted suicide, c) refugees and their families are treated as prisoners. d) Children as young as six months are imprisoned behind razor wire; e) children are denied schooling; and f) sick children are denied proper medical attention as in the case of Vanessa Garza.

The protest is taking place in the blocks that house single men. One of those involved said the hunger strikers intend to continue the strike until they are given assurances about their cases. They also called for a general improvement in the conditions in the centre. A spokeswoman for the Home Office has confirmed that a number of asylum seekers have refused food. The Scottish Executive closed Dungavel, a former category C jail, in 2000 as part of £13m cutbacks. The new centre houses up to 150 asylum seekers and opened in September last year. http://www.paih.org/archive/campaigns/press_releasehungerstrike-protestymca.htm

Yarl's Wood gets half destroyed after a riot in 2002 , serveral people are on trial later. http://www.irr.org.uk/2003/september/ha000005.html http://tenpercent.wordpress.com/2007/05/20/100-women-hunger-on-strike-in-migrant-detention-centre/

2003

December, 2003 Dungavel - "An immigration centre in Lanarkshire is getting back to normal after three asylum seekers staged a rooftop protest, the Home Office said." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3255410.stm

2005

In June-July 2005, Harmondsworth was at the centre of a mass hunger strike involving over 100 Zimbabwean detainees, which spread to several other detention http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/395932.html

20 May, 2007 At Yarl’s Wood in Bedfordshire, more than 100 women are refusing to eat, and there have been recent reports of major disturbances at Lindholme, South Yorkshire, and at Colnbrook in Middlesex.

2006

April 2006 : Colnbrook Detention Centre Hunger Strike 2006 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/04/337997.html Updates: 27th April: Some remain on hunger strike.

17 April: About 25 detainees in Haslar have staged a peaceful protest in the courtyard early this afernoon and are still there, refusing to re-enter the building. There are also news that the hunger strike have spread to Tinsley House.

15 April: More than 120 detainees in Haslar detention centre, Portsmouth, have gone on hunger strike in protest againts arbitrary detention and in solidariety with the detainees in Colnbrook.

24th April: "The hunger strike in Colnbrook seems to have ended . Meanwhile, around 20 Turkish Kurdish detainees in Harmondsworth began a hunger strike on 20 April."

November 2006: The "Harmondsworth Riots" - Frustrated at being detained in awful prison-like conditions, often for long periods, the detainees of Harmondsworth detention centre, near Heathrow, have 'gone wild'. Around 10pm on 28 November, 2006, a group of detainees started a riot in Wing B after a guard switched off the TV preventing them from watching a report about Harmondsworth, and it soon spread to all 4 wings. Some detainees have reportedly been beaten up, while others were kept locked in, with fires and smoke all over the place [reports and updates]. 'Specialist officers' from prisons across the south of England were brought in to help the prison and immigration services 'contain the situation'. http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/11/357432.html

2007

March 2007 : Another serious disturbance occurred at Campsfileld immigration removal centre early in the morning on the 14th of March. The detainees intervened in solidarity when they saw an Algerian man being assaulted while being removed from the centre . Recently an Ugandan man was beaten unconscious in similar circumstances. Because of the damage caused, 60 detainees were later transferred to other centres.

In May 2007, women detainees, many of them single mothers, began a hunger strike in response to new measures introduced by Serco who took over the running of the centre the previous month, under an £87m contract. http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=11425 http://noborderslondon.blogspot.com/2007/05/detainee-resistance.html

June 2007: Dungavel, Scotland

BBC reports: "About 50 detainees at a immigration removal detention centre in South Lanarkshire are refusing food, the Home Office has confirmed.Earlier, a detainee at the Dungavel detention centre told BBC Scotland that 100 people were involved." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6739135.stm

August 2007 : On Tuesday night (July 31st) over 150 detainees in Campsfield immigration prison in Oxfordshire held a yard protest in protest at the appalling conditions inside the detention centre. This was followed by a hunger strike on Wednesday, which was put on hold pending a meeting with Home Office representatives on Friday. A further yard protest on Friday night was held as the meeting failed to meets the prisoners' concerns. Around 10.30pm on Saturday, a riot broke out, leading to 26 prisoners escaping. 12 have since been recaptured, while the rest are still on the run. http://noborderslondon.blogspot.com/2007/08/it-is-no-crime-to-escape-illegal-prison.html

December 2007, Campsfield IRC Police called to disturbance at asylum centre Police in riot gear were called to an asylum detention centre early this morning after reports of a disturbance inside the building. Internees at the Campsfield House facility, near Kidlington, Oxfordshire, are understood to have smashed lights and CCTV cameras after officers tried to remove a man from his cell shortly before 5.30am. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/dec/17/immigration.immigrationandpublicservices1

2008

April 2008. Yarl's Wood Mothers United in Yarl's Wood IRC / Listen To Our Cry Seven mothers in the family unit in Yarl's Wood immigration prison have been on hunger strike since Thursday the 10th of April. The group includes two breastfeeding mothers. A protest involving up to 15 families started last Thursday when a mother who was to be taken to the airport took sanctuary in the church in Yarl's Wood IRC with her baby and refused to leave, she was joined by up to 14 other mothers who refused to let the mother be removed from the church. Listen To Our Cry Collective statement from the mothers to Jacqui Smith… http://www.ncadc.org.uk/archives/filed%20newszines/oldnewszines/Old%2051-100/Newszine93/Yarl%27sWood.html

April 2008: At 9am on Tuesday April 1st about 300 detainees went into the exercise yard in Kalyx-run Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre near Heathrow, protesting against their administrative detention and poor conditions in the centre. They also wrote and signed a petition and sent it to the European Court of Human Rights. http://noborderslondon.blogspot.com/2008/04/protest-and-repression-in-harmondsworth.html

June 2008: Reports are emerging of what appears to have been a riot at Campsfield House, an immigration detention centre in Oxfordshire. Details at this point are sketchy, but it appears that small fires were started and that detainees were returned to their cells by prison officers in riot gear. According to corporate media accounts, there was a heavy police presence with some 50 officers in attendance and a helicopter overhead. A cordon was set up and dog handlers patrolled the perimeter. http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401100.html

August 2008: The 13 Kurdish refugees at Campsfield Detention Centre in Oxfordshire went on hunger strike since Saturday 9th demanding an end to forcible deportations to Iraq and the release of all Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers from detention. Other detainees in Campsfield from countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and the Congo had also joined the hunger strike in solidarity with the actions of the 13. They ended their hunger strike on Sunday 17th August, following a visit from International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR) representatives. http://nobordersbrighton.blogspot.com/2008/08/campsfield-detainees-end-hunger-strike.html

2009

March: During the opening of Brook House Detention Centre at Gatwick, all the inmates at Tinsley House, 750m up the South Perimeter Road at Gatwick Airport, have been on hunger strike for 2 days due to changes in the meal system introduced since Brook House became operational. http://nobordersbrighton.blogspot.com/2009/03/brook-house-opens-as-tinsley-house-goes.html

18 June: At least 30 detainees at the Yarl's Wood detention centre are on hunger strike since Monday in protest at poor conditions at the Bedfordshire site. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jun/18/yarls-wood-hunger-strike

On Monday 19th October, over forty of the Iraqis returned on the charter flight to Baghdad, and others, started a hunger strike in Brook House immigration prison, Gatwick, demanding their release. http://london.noborders.org.uk/node/234