Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Colnbrook Hungerstrike Solidarity Page

NoBorders / imc uk | 26.04.2006 16:24 | April 2006 No Borders Days of Action | Migration | London

In response to being mistreated by the authorities during a demonstration at the detention centers near Heathrow on 8 April, detainees in Colnbrook detention center started a hunger strike on 10 April 2006. They demanded from the Home Office an end to their detention. Anticipating that their demands would be met, most of them ended their hunger strike on 23 April. Since this anticipation proved wrong, many decided to continue.

On this page, you find a timeline of the events, solidarity actions and reports in the media. For more information or to support the detainees, please contact noborderslondon at riseup.net.


Colnbrook Detention Center

Timeline

29 April: NoBorders London confirms the ongoing hunger strike, reports further mistreatment of detainees and a solidarity action during the Love Music Hate Racism event [report].

27 April: The Voice Refugee Forum reports that the hunger strike has not ended [update].

24 April: Detainees within Colnbrook have formed a movement called 'Cry Freedom' within detention centres, to demand an end to detention [update].

23 April: Detainees at Colnbrook report that many of them have ended their hunger strike, and await a meeting with a home office minister.

21 April: A delegation of detainees at Colnbrook meet again with a home office official who promises to consider all of their cases, particularly those of people who have been detained for a long time.

20 April: Around 20 Turkish Kurdish detainees begin hunger striking in Harmondsworth. A coalition of Kurdish organisations are planning a campaign of support. This is still ongoing.

19 April: Detainees on hunger strike at Colnbrook are told that they are not allowed to use the chapel, IT room, library or shop.

18 April: More than 300 detainees in Harmondsworth detention centre, next to Colnbrook, have a mass one-day food refusal, in protest at length of detention, and in solidarity with the protests in Colnbrook and Haslar.

17 April: A delegation of detainees at Colnbrook meet with a home office official to discuss their demands. He focuses more on individual cases, rather than the length and arbitrary nature of detention generally. They decide to do a further mass food refusal the following day, with the demand of a meeting with local MP John McDonnell.

17 April, evening: Detainees at Haslar stage a peaceful sit-in protest in the exercise yard, and refuse to go inside. Staff lock them out and call the mufti squad (prison riot police) who search them all before allowing them back inside. During the night, 40 detainees are removed from Haslar and moved to Colnbrook, in order to try and contain the hunger strike. One man, whose name appeared in the Guardian newspaper, is badly beaten by guards. At the time of writing, several of these men remain on hunger strike.

15 April: 125 Detainees at Haslar detention centre near Portsmouth begin a food refusal in protest at length of detention, conditions at Haslar, and in solidarity with the protests at Colnbrook. The home office deny that the protests at Colnbrook and Haslar are connected, but detainees in both centres are in touch with each other by phone, and claim that the protest at Haslar is a direct result of those at Colnbrook.

13 April: Most of Colnbrook refuse food in protest at length of detention. Those on hunger strike continue.

12 April: 2 men at Colnbrook who have been doing telephone interviews with journalists, are put in isolation cells, and refused phone calls and visits for over a week. One man alleges he is beaten and told by guards: ‘why did you talk to journalists and bring trouble for this company’. Colnbrook is run by Serco.

10 April: 150 detainees at Colnbrook refuse food, with some declaring that they are on hunger strike [report]. 97 detainees issue a statement demanding an end to their detention. Many of them have been detained for over 6 months, some for up to 3 years. One man has been in detention since 2001.

9 April: Many Colnbrook detainees refused to leave the chapel after their Pastor, who had spoken via mobile phone to the demo the day before, was punished by being put in isolation, then moved to Harmondsworth, and wasn't present at the service.

8 April: 120 detainees at Colnbrook begin refusing food during a demonstration outside Harmondsworth & Colnbrook detention centres, near Heathrow, where detainees are prevented from going to windows or accessing the exercise yard, to see and hear the demonstration.

Colnbrook Solidarity Demo at Home Office

Solidarity Actions

London, 29 April: NoBorders London unfurls a banner at the Love Music Hate Racism event [report].

Birmingham, 28 April: The local NoBorders group called a demonstration at the Home Office signing centre in Solihull.

Cardiff, 20 April: A solidarity demonstration took place in Queen St, the main shopping street. About 30 people and a banner gathered to hand out flyers and talk to people about the situation of the hunger strikers and immigration detention and borders in general.

London, 13 April: Around 20 people demonstrated outside the Home Office building in central London. The demonstration had been authorized under sec 132 of SOCPA with many restrictions: the authorities put a cap of a maximum of 25 protesters.

Media Reports

  • 1 May: The Guardian - "Detainee 'beaten' after talking to press" (Eric Allison)
  • 24 Apr: The Voice - "Asylum Hell" (Andrew Clunis)
  • 19 Apr: Independent - "Seven still on hunger strike after asylum centre protests" (Terri Judd)
  • 18 Apr: African HIV Policy Network - "Asylum hunger strike spreads"
  • 18 Apr: Guerilla News Network - "Resisting Blair's Corporate-run Gulag" (Sam Urquhart)
  • 18 Apr: Gulf Times - "Hunger strike by refugees" (AFP)
  • 18 Apr: 24dash.com - "Riot officers called to immigration centre protest" (Jon Land)
  • 17 Apr: Guardian - "Second holding centre hit by hunger strike" (Eric Allison)
  • 17 Apr: Yahoo News UK - "Immigrants at British detention centre on hunger strike" (AFP)
  • 16 Apr: Hillingdon Times - "‘We have decided to die with hunger’" (Rachel Sharp)
  • 15 Apr: guardian - "Detainees on hunger strike at removal centre vow to die" (Eric Allison)
  • 15 Apr: bbc.co.uk - "Immigration hunger strike denied"
  • 13 Apr: IRR - "Demonstration and hunger strike against immigration detention" (Tim Cleary)
  • 11 Apr: greatreporter.com - "UK refugees on hunger strike after 'assaults'" (Jason Parkinson)
  • 10 Apr: indymedia uk - "Hunger Strike in Colnbrook Detention Centre" (NoBorders)
  • 8 Apr: indymedia uk - "Noborders Demo at Harmondsworth Detention Centre" (imc uk)

NoBorders / imc uk

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech