National protests against deadly detention

Dave Landau

A Ukrainian asylum seeker at Harmondsworth Removal Centre was found hanged last Monday 19th July.  Some detainees claimed there were rumours that staff mistreated the Ukrainian, which may not have been an illogical conclusion to some detainees given the number of alleged assaults against detainees.  A significant disturbance at Harmondsworth ensued - detainees were transferred to other Removal Centres and to main-stream prisons.

Days later on Friday 23rd July, a Vietnamese detainee who had been moved from Harmondsworth to Dungavel Removal Centre hung himself - he was taken to Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride, where he later died. A fellow Dungavel detainee is reported to have said that the Vietnamese man had been detained for over a year and simply gave up hope of being released.

Campaigners around the country are staging demonstrations this weekend at those Removal Centres and main-stream prisons, to commemorate the needless deaths, show solidarity with detainees, and demand an end to the deadly policy of indefinite detention of men, women and children who are not accused of any crime.

A few years ago the Home Secretary said “…we will remove the necessity and practice of anyone claiming asylum being in prison … It is a scandal that shouldn't have happened. It's time it was over”.  It's never been over ; asylum seekers have continued to be held in prisons - one of which is HMP Forest Bank, operated by UKDS (the same private profit making company that operates Harmondsworth Removal Centre).



*** HMP LIVERPOOL (Walton) - Sat. 31st July - 10.00 am
-----------------------------
Meeting point : at the prison - 68 Hornby Road, Liverpool, L93 DF
Contact : Tom Bimpson tbnw16268@blueyonder.co.uk or Margaret McAdam  margaretacara@aol.com
Directions : opposite Walton train station - Liverpool
to Ormskirk rail-line (MerseyRail)


*** CAMPSFIELD REMOVAL CENTRE - Sat. 31st July - 12.00
midday
----------------------------------------------------
Meeting point : Campsfield gates - Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1RE
Contact :  Bob Hughes - HughesBob@compuserve.com


*** DOVER REMOVAL CENTRE -  Sat. 31st July - 12.00 midday
--------------------------------------------
Meeting point :  MacDonalds Car Park, Whitfield
Roundabout on A2 just outside Dover, then move on to Removal Centre
Contact : Kate Adams - cdas_kent@hotmail.com
Directions : Nearest station is Dover Priory Railway
Station. Trains direct from London Victoria - 10.04
arrives 11.48 am or 10.34 arrives 12.27 pm. Phone if
you need a lift from the station.
Details : Bring Music and a Picnic


*** HMP & YOI FOREST BANK - Sunday 1st August - 1 pm
------------------------------------------
Meeting point ; by the visitor's car park at the prison - Agecroft Road, Pendlebury, Manchester
Contact : Heather -  simple_things@riseup.net or Emma - sady_campaign@yahoo.co.uk
Directions : lifts from Chorlton Street bus station by
arrangement (ring first).  If you are making your own
way, directions and public transport info -
www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/prisoninformation/locateaprison/prison.asp?id=375,15,2,15,371,0
Details : this is a Noise Demo - bring something to
make a noise with


*** DUNGAVEL REMOVAL CENTRE - Sunday 1st August - 1 pm
--------------------------------------------------
Meeting point :  at Dungavel gates - Dungavel House Removal Centre, Strathaven, ML10 6RF
Contact : Margaret - glascamref@hotmail.com / fax 0141 946 6111
Directions : very isolated location - bus leaving George Square in central Glasgow at 12.00 midday prompt.
Details : please bring banners


We ask everyone to participate and any more campaigners thinking of organising a demo to contact us so that press releases can detail all demos.  We intend to issue a press release and a leaflet and hope that other demo organisers can use and/or modify this material for their demo.

Please distribute this email as widely as possible. Many thanks.

Emma - sady_campaign@yahoo.co.uk

Supporting Campaigns so far …
* No One Is Illegal
* Campaign To Stop Arbitrary Detentions at Yarl's Wood
(SADY)
* Close Campsfield Campaign (CCC)
* Barbed Wire Britain (BWB)
* Merseyside Against Detention (MAD)
* Merseyside Socialist Alliance
* National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns
(NCADC)
* Manchester Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers
(MCDAS)
* Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees
* Positive Action in Housing
* Kent Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers

Other places of detention where detainees have been transferred to from Harmondsworth include …
Removal Centres : Tinsley House (Gatwick), Haslar (Gosport, Hants), Lindholme (HMP Lindholme, Doncaster).  Main-stream prisons ; HMP Altcourse (Liverpool), HMP Norwich, HMP Exeter, HMP Shrewsbury, HMP Highdown (Sutton, Surry),  HMP Woodhill (Milton Kynes), HMP Gloucester, HMP Belmarsh (Thamesmead, London), HMP Wandsworth (London), HMP Elmley (Sherness, Kent), HMP Wormwood Scrubs (London), HMP Birmingham, HMP Cardiff, HMP Leeds, HMP Lincoln. 

Please note that this list may not be complete as some information given to us by removal centres and prisons
has been found to be incorrect.