Protests were 'immigration policy sabotage attempt'
The detention centre was heavily criticised in a government report yesterday
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Thursday, 30, Nov 2006 07:53
A day of disturbances and unrest at Britain's largest immigration detention centre yesterday was a direct attempt to "sabotage" the government's deportation policy, John Reid claims.
The home secretary's remarks to MPs follow mass protests at Harmondsworth, Middlesex, where detainees lit small fires and spelled out the word 'Help' in white sheets.
Earlier this week the chief inspector of prisons heavily criticised staff and management at the centre.
It took an increased security presence from specialist officers for the unrest to be quelled, with the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) saying yesterday evening that the disturbances had been "contained".
And the home secretary today said that the protests were an organised move to stall the process of deportation, with about 175 of the centre's 482 detainees being convicted foreign nationals.
"The disturbance appears to have been an attempt to sabotage the enforcement of our immigration law," he outlined.
Mr Reid added: "The perpetrators have been prepared to destroy property and to endanger their fellow detainees. They have, themselves, harmed their own environment. We will not allow them to succeed in frustrating the enforcement of the law."
The IND has already indicated that the detainees have been dispersed to other centres around the country, with about 150 low-risk individuals set for bail.
But shadow immigration minister Damian Green has claimed the disturbances at Harmondsworth represent the "most disturbing outbreak at an immigration detention centre for years" and indicative of an immigration system that is "out of control".
Chief inspector of prisons Anne Owers admitted earlier this week that Harmondsworth is "not an easy place to run", but nevertheless emphasised that her review was the "poorest" ever issued.
The inspector went on to say that the centre had "been allowed to slip into a culture and approach which was wholly at odds with its stated purpose, and inimical to the proper care and treatment of detainees".
In response to the highly-critical report, Home Office minister Liam Byrne pledged that an action plan being drawn up would "ensure further improvements are made".