This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
PROTESTERS gathered outside the Home Office this evening to stand in solidarity with Yarl’s Wood hunger strikers.
The emergency demonstration was called by Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants to support the strike that started last week against detainment conditions.
protest now outside the Home Office demanding action from Govt as women in Yarl’s Wood detention centre continue with their hunger strike @detainedvoices pic.twitter.com/0TMneTzLic
— Michael Segalov (@MikeSegalov) February 28, 2018
The campaign is backed by groups like All African Women’s Group, Black Women’s Rape Action Project and Women Against Rape
Speaking from inside Yarl’s Wood, hunger striker Theresa said: “They’re trying to break us down, but we’re not about to give in to them or their threats."
She said director Steven Hewer had threatened to send “trouble-makers” to prison.
“Protesters are being called to the Home Office one by one, supposedly to address our demands but instead they are updating people on their individual cases," she said.
"Our protest is a peaceful quiet one and we don't appreciate having the threat of HM prisons directed at us.”
She said one detainee was informed that they are pursuing travel documents for her and intend to “remove her as soon as possible.”
Women protesting in Yarl’s Wood have been targeted for punishment repeatedly.
We're here to tell the Home Office to END DETENTION. Taking away people's freedom is never okay, let alone for administrative reasons, and indefinitely. LISTEN to the people detained! Follow @detainedvoices for testimonies from inside #HungerForFreedom pic.twitter.com/Osv2B2lxwh
— DocsNotCops (@DocsNotCops) February 28, 2018
From mothers threatened with being deported without their children, to rape survivors who haven’t been able to speak about what they suffered in the “hostile environment” in which asylum claims are considered, women in Yarl’s Wood face removal without having had a fair hearing.
Detainees are denied the right to fax statements about their conditions and demands.
Some of the demands of the strikers include capping indefinite detentions to 28 days, releasing children and amnesty for people who have lived in Britain for 10 years.
They are also protesting against separation of families and mistreatment of detainees at the detention centre.
