On July 15, 100 people protested outside England's Harmondsworth Detention Centre in solidarity with the asylum seekers imprisoned there. Most of the inmates are from poverty and war-stricken Third World countries outside Europe. The protest was organised by the prison campaign group CAGE.
"Conveniently" placed just outside Heathrow Airport, Harmondsworth can hold up to 95 refugees at a time. These refugees are held in the detention centre until immigration authorities decide on their fate. Inmates can't leave, don't have the normal rights of detained suspects and, surrounded by barbed wire, they are guilty until proven innocent.
According to one protestor, Indra, "Some of the 100 demonstrators climbed onto the top of the fence surrounding the centre and made contact with the refugees ...
"Next day, 12 of us armed with phone cards, propaganda and cherries entered Harmondsworth with the names of people we had managed to get to speak to ... The security had a little freak-out, confiscating our literature and cherries. But they had to let us meet the inmates. We encountered people from Algeria, Kosova, Albania and other war-torn beneficiaries of the British arms industry. They welcomed us warmly.
"One refugee, Salim Rambo, had been caught up in the civil war in Zaire and now fears for his life if he returns home. Salim had been living in London for nine months waiting for his case to be heard.
"He told us that he had been taken to Harmondsworth by policemen who jumped him, after he responded to an invitation to tell his story to a solicitor. He still has not seen a solicitor or had his case listened to.
"Salim told us that inmates who come to understand too much about what rights they have are moved elsewhere so as not to stir up the other detainees. We learned that he was due to be deported on Tuesday [July 18] to Germany. Germany had already refused his asylum application, so from there he would be deported straight back to Zaire and possible death."
Early on July 18, 11 people from CAGE leafleted people about to board the same flight as Salim. One passenger was arrested after standing up and refusing to let the flight depart. The flight was delayed for two hours and eventually Salim was removed at the demand of the pilot. Immigration officials threatened him with a beating, but he is now back in detention in London.
Similar actions in Belgium have led to commercial airlines refusing to deport asylum seekers. A spokesperson from CAGE said: "It is unbelievable that British Airways and its shareholders are profiting from the forced removal of people from the UK. This is the ultimate in putting profit before life, and it is nice to see that people here are standing up to it — literally."
There are plans to replace Harmondsworth with a new complex which can hold up to 500 refugees, including children.
[Abridged from SchNEWS. Visit <http://www.schnews.com>.]