Migrant and refugee rights campaigners, trade union activists, local politicians and other community members came together in Liverpool to launch the Merseyside These Walls Must Fall campaign
The Immigration Minister was quizzed about detention by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee. The session was watched by members of the Freed Voices group, detention experts-by-experience, and we filmed their reactions and comments, googlebox-style.
Brighton & Hove and Cambridge City Councils have just joined Manchester in passing These Walls Must Fall motions to condemn indefinite immigration detention and committing to action to build the movement to end the practice.
Opelo Kgari and her mother have lived in the UK for 14 years – since Opelo was just 13. For almost three months they’ve been detained at Yarl’s Wood detention centre, uncertain of their future. Opelo was detained in January 2018 following a routine ‘signing’ appointment at her local immigration office in Stoke-on-Trent. This is something that tens of thousands of people have to do every week, or month, while they wait for a decision… Read more »
A collective of grassroots groups is mobilising for a rally outside Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre on Saturday 24 March, in solidarity with the #HungerForFreedom strikers inside. Hundreds of people will surround the notorious detention centre in Bedfordshire, calling for the place to be closed, the people to be released and for an end to immigration detention. On February 21st, 120 people detained at Yarl’s Wood started a hunger strike. The strikers have announced an… Read more »
This Wednesday 21st March will mark one full month since people inside Yarl’s Wood began their strike actions. On 21st February, 120 people detained at Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire started a hunger strike. Since then, strikers have been refusing food, refusing to work, and refusing to use services inside detention, with a list of demands against the detention system. Read the demands here. There have been actions in support of the strikers in… Read more »
By Lauren Cape-Davenhill, These Walls Must Fall campaigns coordinator At the University and College Union International Woman’s Day rally in Liverpool last week, the These Walls Must Fall banner made its way through sunny streets with about 400 passionate and noisy academics, students and university staff. On arriving by the waterfront just down the road from a jaunty statue of the Beatles and next to a ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ bus, it was time to bring… Read more »
An inspection report published today reveals the dark, unacceptable nature of immigration detention in the UK. Harmondsworth is Europe’s largest immigration detention centre, with a capacity to hold up to 676 people for the purposes of immigration administration and enforcement. A new inspection report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons has found “considerable failings” in safety and respect for detainees, people being held for excessively long periods, and in contravention to the detention rules that are… Read more »
On Wednesday 28 February, over 200 people braved the freezing weather and took to the streets in London in solidarity with the men and women on hunger strike in Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre. They gathered outside the Home office headquarters. Solidarity actions also took place outside of Home Office buildings in Leeds and Glasgow. Over loudspeakers, one of the hunger strikers spoke to the crowd in London by phone: “You’re fighting for our liberty… Read more »
On Wednesday 21st of February a large group of women and men held in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Detention Centre organised a coordinated 3-day hunger strike. The demands have been posted on the Detained Voices website. This post first appeared on the SOAS Detainee Support website. The demands of the strikers include: Amnesty for those who have lived in the UK 10 years and above End indefinite detention – Detention periods shouldn’t be longer than 28… Read more »
Around 100 women in Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre are protesting at their continuing incarceration. Their demands are listed below. The protest coincided with a visit to the notorious centre by Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abboot MP. You can read a report of that visit at the Guardian here. For up to date info and news, follow @detainedvoices on Twitter and check the website. 1. Shorter bail request periods Legally it should 3-5 days, however… Read more »
Campaigners are working with their local elected representatives to pass council motions against immigration detention. Here are some tips on getting a council to support the campaign in this way