Chief inspector of prisons, Anne Owers, describes Harmondsworth Detention Centre as having slipped into a "a culture wholly at odds with its stated purpose" --

The problem with Harmondsworth and other Immigration Removal Centres is not any shortcomings with respect to their stated purpose, but that they exist in the first place. They reflect the inhumane system of migration controls that lock up refugees and migrants just because they try to make a life here.

Tuesday's revolt by Harmondsworth detainees shows that people, regardless of their desperation, will always struggle for their human dignity. A human dignity denied by a system which makes people illegal so as to control them and keep us all in a state of fear.

Kalyx is a private company profiting from the public panic. Its part of the Sodhexo “Empire” which makes money out of exploiting people and disposing of them; these are the ultimate traffickers in human misery.

We are in solidarity with all migrants and refugees and their desire for freedom. We hold Kalyx and the Home Office responsible for the sufferings of the detainees and demand that they are brought to account.

No Borders is calling for a protest outside the headquarters of Kalyx on Edgware Road this Friday, 1^st December 2006 from 3.30pm to 5.30pm. 25 Chapel Street NW1, Nearest tube Edgware Rd.

NO BORDERS CALLS FOR THE *CLOSURE OF ALL IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTRES* .
NO BORDERS DETAINEE SUPPORT GROUP *PROVIDES PRACTICAL SUPPORT TO REFUGEES
AND MIGRANTS IN DETENTION AND/OR THOSE THREATENED WITH DEPORTATION,* AND WORKS TO EMPOWER
THEIR STRUGGLES INSIDE AND OUTSIDE DETENTION CENTRES. For more info, email  Noborders@riseup.net.

The protests at Harmondsworth Detention Centre and the hunger strike at Yarlswood Detention Centre have been the latest attempts by detainees to contest their abhorrent treatment at the hands of the UK immigration system. In Yarlswood Detention Centre, 25 mothers have begun a hunger strike today in protest at their treatment there.

Current UK’s immigration policies violate the basic principles of the Refugee Convention which the UK has signed. By ignoring the Convention, the Government refuses to grant protection of people’s lives that are in severe danger, whether politically or economically.

We condemn the statement’s by Ms Homer, head of the immigration and nationality directorate in which she is solely interested in making detainees responsible for the destruction of private property. It is a perversion of the reality that refugees and migrants face every single day, and it shows that private property is worth more than a human being in the eyes of the UK government and the companies that benefit from the oppressive immigration system.

Migrants have been degraded and abused and are being treated as criminals, when their only ‘crime’ is to come to the UK on their own terms. The UK government’s immigration policies favour locking up people without trial. Refugees are treated like ‘terrorists’ and perceived as a threat to national security and are held in detention for many months.

The protests that resulted from detainees being prevented from watching news reports about the Chief Inspector of Prison’s report on the Harmondsworth Detention Centre on Tuesday night reflect the abusive system that keeps migrants locked up like animals. The subsequent treatment of the detainees that left them without food and water, many trapped in smoke filled rooms or in the freezing courtyard all night, is a reflection of the contempt with which people without papers face in this country. Everywhere, people are resisting their subjection to the violence of the UK immigration system and the profiteering of the companies that run the centres.

We demand the closure of Harmondsworth and all other detention centres in the UK and abroad. We demand that everyone can live their life with freedom and dignity.

Noborders London



Notes to the editors

1. No Borders London support all those in struggle against borders, against their incarceration in detention centres, against their deportation, against their super-exploitation as ‘illegal’ workers. We work to develop spaces of solidarity where resistance and life can be developed. Contact  noborderslondon@riseup.net

2. London No Borders Weekend of Resistance and Solidarity
Friday, 1st Dec 2006: SOS Freedom!
Solidarity action with Harmondsworth Uprising! // Headquarters of Kalyx 25 Chapel Street NW1 by Edgware Road tube // 3.30pm to 5.30pm

Friday, 1st Dec 2006: London No Borders Benefit Night, party to raise money for campaigns//7pm to 2am// Rampart Social Centre, Rampart Street, off Commercial Road, nearest tube Whitechapel

Saturday, 2nd Dec 2006: Communications House Picket, monthly picket outside a reporting centre for asylum seekers, Old Street roundabout, nearest tube Old Street

Sunday 3rd Dec: Harmondsworth Detention Centre Solidarty Action//12am// Solidarity action to communicate our support to the people trapped inside the detention centres. A coach will leave from ULU, Malet Street, WC1 at 10.30am.