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Asylum seekers wreck detention centre in riot
Last updated at 23:52pm on 14.03.07
Campsfield House immigration removal centre: Police, fire and ambulance teams are on the scene
A detention centre was wrecked in an eight-hour orgy of looting, arson and violence by failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals.
They destroyed an entire block at Campsfield House detention centre before a specialist Prison Service Tornado riot squad managed to regain control.
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Campsfield House immigration removal centre: Police, fire and ambulance teams are on the scene
A special learning centre for the migrants was smashed to pieces, along with bedrooms and shops. The final bill could reach £1 million.
Nine people were injured, including seven staff at the privately-run Oxfordshire centre.
More than 60 of the detainees - including a hardcore of around ten ringleaders - were last night removed from the centre under escort, and are being held at other immigration centres across the country.
The rioters will be questioned by police but are unlikely to face criminal charges because it would only serve to lengthen their stay in the UK.
Their trail of destruction leaves John Reid desperately short of space to hold foreigners facing removal from Britain, after a similar riot destroyed most of Harmondsworth detention centre last November.
The carnage at Campsfield House, which normally holds almost 200 failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals who have reached the end of their sentence, began at around 6.30am on Wednesday.
Detainees were incensed by the removal of an elderly Algerian man in the middle of the night by staff wearing riot gear, and began running amok and starting fires.
An entire block at the centre, which is split into three units, was destroyed. A building used for education classes, such as learning English, was also torn apart, and computers smashed to pieces.
Shops were also looted, according to accounts given by detainees who fled the violence.
One detainee said: TThis place is falling apart - computers are getting smashed. They're destroying every bit of equipment they can find - computers getting smashed, shops are getting broken into, they're stealing everything."
Police, ambulance and fire teams were initially sent in to ferry the injured to hospital, and contain the fires.
Of the nine suffering smoke inhalation, one person - a detainee - last night remained in John Radcliffe Hospital, in Oxford.
As the rioting continued, police on horseback and teams specialist officers from the Prison Service's crack Tornado team were also ordered in.
They managed to regain control by around 2.30pm. But, late last night, a small number of rioters were still continuing to battle the authorities. A cordon was thrown around the centre by police, and none of the 197 people held inside managed to escape.
Coming only three months after the more serious riot at Harmondsworth, in West London - which left the 500-bed centre with only 60 detainees - the riot will raise new questions about Home Office policy.
Prior to last summer, detention centres were usually reserved for failed asylum seekers only.
But, following revelations that foreign criminals were being mistakenly freed from jail without being considered for removal, they are now sent there too.
As hardened criminals facing removal from the UK, they have nothing to lose from rioting.
Losing another 60 beds, on top of those still out of action at Harmondsworth, will be a severe blow to Mr Reid. Spaces are at a shortage already.
If there is no room, immigration officers are told not to bother seizing failed asylum seekers and illegal immigrants.
In a statement, the director general of the Home Office's Immigration Nationality Directorate (IND), Lin Homer, said: "No detainee will be released from anywhere in the IND estate as a result of today's disturbance and we will continue to remove immigration offenders as planned.
"The perimeter of Campsfield remains secure and no-one has escaped. There has been no risk to the public.
"Although seven staff and two detainees were taken to hospital suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation I am pleased to say that all members of staff and one detainee have been discharged. One detainee remains in hospital under observation."
Reader views (6)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
Deny asylum and deport the ones responsible, it's that simple!
- Brandon Thomas, London UK
Must be pretty nasty for genuine asylum seekers who have been refused entry. Imagine being locked up with foreign criminals, possibly with your kids awaiting transaportation back to a place you struggled to leave. Some of these people must have genuinely been looking for a better life here. I agree that we can't accomodate everyone in the UK, but still feel a bit sorry for some of these people!
- Mark, London
Start a penal colony in some God forsaken desert and if they deliberately destroy their documents then of they go, tough. That will soon stop this blatant abuse. Yet another reason to take control of our borders from the Brussels EU shower.
- James, London
When the destination country refuses to take them back, that's when you dump them off the coast of Russia. They have plenty of room in the Gulags. Bet they'll stop coming then.
- Kevin Anderson, Texas
The trouble is that no one can be deported unless the destination country agrees beforehand.
China will not take anyone back unless they have proper documents. However these are routinely destroyed to make identification far more difficult.
Easier said than done!
- John Smith, London, UK
Once a deportation order has been granted why are these people still held here? There are flights/boats/trains out of here to almost anywhere daily. Just get rid of them. We cannot aford and do not need these people.
- Jane, London
