ANTI-DEPORTATION campaigners gathered outside the Home Office in central London today in their final day of action following a week of protest.

Groups under the banner “a world without borders” have been protesting outside the government building in Marsham Street following a “people’s trial” sentencing the Home Office to a week of action.

Activists outside the Becket House Home Office building, where asylum-seekers often have to check in and where raid vans are dispatched, said more should be expected if the government continues with its “inhumane” policies.

A spokeswoman from the Anti Raids Network said that people queue outside for hours not knowing if they will be able to leave the way they came in.

She added that signing in and raids were an “integral part of the government’s hostile environment policy.”

One man, who did not want to be named, said he had experience with the process during his claim and that the government had no consideration for people’s needs.

He said: “I can’t describe how it feels. Some people come here to sign and then are detained indefinitely, with no legality behind it.

“They are sent off to countries which they have left for their own safety. It’s not just asylum-seekers suffering but also people living here for years, with children and lives here.”

A spokeswoman for the All African Women’s Group and Black Women Rape Action said many of their members have had to visit Becket House to sign and were deported, often without even time to contact their solicitors.

The protesters also heard recordings of people with experience of signing. One woman said she has to commute long distances to sign, spending £20 on travel, without support.

Another woman, named Flower, said she had been signing for at least 15 years.

She said: “Only poor people from poor countries have to sign. I have never heard of a rich man having to sign here.

“This experience is terrible and torturous. You don’t know if this is the day that you will be caught and thrown into a cage like an animal.”

The Haringey branch of the Anti Raids Network held a workshop outside the building to inform the protesters on the issue.