[IMC-UK-Features] feaature proposal: Harmondsworth hunger strike

Mon Apr 7 04:03:24 PDT 2008

Hi,

The feature below was put together by one of No Borders London and revised
a bit by myself (i'll finish editing the content tonight). If there are no
objections, i would like to publish it sometime tomorrow morning.

Cheers,

-- 
Shiar

Title: Harmondsworth hunger strike broken violently

Author: No Borders

Pic: /images/2006/11/357322.jpg

Abstract:

On Saturday, 5th April, between 5 and 6am, around 50 police in riot gear
<a href="/en/2008/04/395639.html">stormed the Harmondsworth immigration
prison</a>, near Heathrow, to break the <a
href="/en/2008/04/395251.html">detainees hunger strike</a> and took 30
detainees away. Most of them were put in solitary confinement or taken
into normal prisons to prevent them from communicating with each other and
the outside world. One detainee, who managed to contact supporters, said
he was bruised all over his body, had injuries from handcuffs and a
damaged ankle. He also reported that he saw another detainee being
violently 'manhandled' by police.

The detainees' peaceful protest had started at 9am on April 1st, with mass
food refusal by almost all of the detainees in the so-called immigration
removal centre. Later, they also <a
href="/en/2008/04/395316.html">occupied the courtyard</a> and around 120
of them remained there all night.

The detainees are complaining that they are being deported without having
their cases properly heard, while being detained in the meantime without
having committed any crime. The so-called fast-track system means that
asylum seekers are not getting enough time to prepare their cases and
legal representation is often of very poor quality. They further say that
they are being abused by detention staff (<a
href="/en/2008/04/395251.html">detainees' statements</a>).

A <a href="/en/2008/04/395575.html">petition</a>, with 116 signatures, has
been sent to the European Court of Human Rights, John McDonnell MP and
others (see also supporters' <a href="/en/2008/04/395640.html">press
release</a>).

Links: <a href="http://noborderslondon.blogspot.com">No
Borders London</a> | <a href="http://www.noborders.org.uk">No Borders
UK</a> | <a href="http://www.ncadc.org.uk">National Coalition of
Anti-Deportation Campaigns</a> | Indymedia UK's <a
href="/en/topics/migration/">Migration page</a> 

Previous protests inside/at Harmondsworth: <a
href="/en/2006/11/357432.html">November 2006</a> | <a
href="/en/2006/04/337848.html">April 2006</a> | <a
href="/en/2006/01/332427.html">January 2006</a> | <a
href="/en/2004/07/295098.html">July 2004</a> | <a
href="/en/2008/02/392064.html">The Harmondsworth Four acquitted</a>

Content:

After failed negotiations with Immigration, <a
href="/en/2008/04/395554.html">food refusal resumed</a> on Friday, April
4th. On Saturday, the repression began. The detainees left in
Harmondsworth are feeling very intimidated but they say they are coping.
Some detainees are still refusing food but we do not know how many. 
Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre is run by Kalyx, a subsidiary of
multinational company Sodexo (formerly Sodexho).

 http://noborderslondon.blogspot.com/2008/04/protest-and-repression-in-harmondsworth.html

Earlier news that there  were some 300 detainees on hunger strike are
slightly
exaggerated as there are less than 300 detainees in the centre (due to the
fact it
is still half closed following riots in 2006). It is still the majority of
detainees, possibly  in the region of 200 people or more, but to obtain
the exact
numbers will be impossible, as the detention staff do not have to register
that
somebody has not been eating but after three days. Most detainees went off
the
hunger strike and started it again when the talks with Immigration
produced no
results: so at present time is all too easy for the detention centre
management to
deny that there has been anyone on hunger strike but a small minortiy.

The fast track system was introduced supposedly to deal quickly with
claims that are
'clearly unfunded'. Asylum seekers are given 5 days to prepare their cases
and 2
days to appeal. Up to 99% of claims are refused in the first instance.
Most appeals
fail too. A very large number of people whose claims are not 'clearly
unfunded',
including torture and rape survivors, end up on the fast track.
Harmondsworth is a
main centre for experimenting with the 'detained fast track': people are
detained as
soon as they claim asylum and have to deal with their asylum claim from the
detention centre.

Some background about Harmondsworth IRC

Harmondsworth opened in September 2001 in place of a smaller detention
centre, the
'old  Harmondsworth'. It is situated near Heathrow airport and stands next to
another large detention centre, Colnbrook.

In 2003 Olga Blaskevica was killed in the centre by her mentally ill husband.
Harmondsworth had  to close down a first time in July 2004, after the
centre was
severely damaged during a detainees' uprising. Trouble exploded following the
suicide of detainee Sergey Baraunick. Many detainees, including women and
children,
suffered from shock and smoke inhalation and some were hospitalized. Later
in the
year Harmondsworth re-opened  with increased capacity (501) to hold single
men only.
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
centres. Most
were released when the High Court put a halt to deportations to Zimbabwe.
Peaceful protests including a short-lived hunger strike followed the
suicide of
detainee Beretek Yohannes in January 2006. Many detainees were punished,
put in
isolation and moved from Harmondsworth to other centres so to break the
protest.
In November 2006 Harmondsworth had to close down for the second time after
being
damaged during another uprising. This occurred immediately after the prison
inspector Anne Owers published a report in which the centre was strongly
criticised.
Four men who were arbitrarily accused of causing the damage have recently
been
aquitted after standing trial. The centre has in the meantime re-opened
partially
and two damdaged wings are being worked on to increase capacity and lock
up people
more tightly. Perhaps the government's way to defend the indefensible and
render
more manageable something that cannot be managed?

----------