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.

Solidarity with protest inside Morton Hall

anon@indymedia.org (One of No Borders) | 24.07.2012 20:55

In response to a protest by up to 100 migrant detainees in Morton Hall detention centre, a group held a solidarity protest outside the prison today. We used horns, pots and pans and a megaphone to be heard by detainees behind the razor wire fences, shouting 'Shut down Morton Hall!' and 'Freedom of movement is everybody's right'.

Protests began at the Immigration Removal Centre late last night, as Muslim detainees broke the Ramadan fast. The food offered was in small portions and of poor quality and this was evidently the final straw for many who have told us they are "fed up of being treated like dogs". They refused to eat the food and say they will continue to refuse to eat until the prison authorities take action to address their concerns. One man climbed onto the roof of a building and was there until 4am when he was fetched down but was replaced by another man soon after.

Although the protest was triggered by a meal for Muslim detainees, they were joined by many non-Muslims as part of a general protest against the conditions inside the centre.

The entire prison was put under lockdown by the authorities and the governor and guards were reported to have been out trying to deal with the situation on the roof. A second man joined the first during the day. One man was said to have been protesting the fact that he was denied bail.

By 2.15pm the men had been brought down from the roof and the total lockdown had ended. However, we spoke to one of the protestors at 4pm and he had still not been released. It's unclear whether the lockdown was continued in some units or whether he has been put in solitary confinement.

In response to the protest, a group of supporters organised a solidarity demonstration which took place at 5pm outside the prison fences. We did a tour of the extensive perimeter banging pots and pans, using sirens and horns and chanting, carrying a banner that read "Freedom to all prisoners". We stopped near to the prison buildings at several points and used our megaphone to send messages of solidarity to the people inside.

There were a lot of media people hanging around, including a reporter from the Lincolnshire Echo and ITV news. Unsurprisingly, the Morton Hall authorities had refused to speak to them.

Unsurprisingly, Morton Hall called the cops on us and they'd just about caught up with us in their patrol car when the road around the perimeter turned into a footpath and they had to go all the way back again. They predictably asked who was in charge and how long we were going to stick around for but didn't seriously try to impede the protest.

We saw a lot of Reliance and GEO transport vans parked near by and leaving the centre. Last time there was major disruption at Morton Hall, 18 inmates were ghosted out to nearby prisons and other detention centres. We hope that the authorities aren't up to their usual tricks to break the strike.

We are in touch with people who will be continuing the protest tonight and we hope they stay strong and that their struggle is successful. Victory to the hunger strike!


anon@indymedia.org (One of No Borders)
- http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/2692

Comments

Display the following 2 comments

  1. Great stuff guys — @
  2. Support video — Muslim support network
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