Police storm immigration centre as inmates riot

The perimeter of Campsfield House, near Kidlington, Oxfordshire, the scene of rioting in March, is being secured by police and staff

Officers were called to the building at 6.20am, a Thames Valley Police spokesman said.

Fire crews were also called to the centre and were assisting police, a spokeswoman for Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue said.

The centre holds 218 male detainees and is run by private security firm GEO. It has been the subject of a campaign to close it for many years.

In March this year, nine people were taken to hospital suffering smoke inhalation after violence broke out and fires were set.

Months later, on August 26, men broke out after starting fires. Police recaptured 12 men the following day but some still remain at large.

The Oxford Mail reported that detainees inside the centre claimed violence broke out this morning when one of their number, Davis Osagie, was removed by officers.

One detainee said: "He was on the top bunk of the bed and they dragged him down. About five officers were holding us down, preventing us from interfering."

"After they took him away forcefully everyone was angry. It just escalated from there. There was a confrontation with the officers. There was just anger."

He told the newspaper that CCTV cameras and lights were broken and the corridors of the centre were awash with water after the toilets were flooded.

A Border and Immigration Agency spokesman said: "We can confirm that a disturbance began this morning within one block of Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre."

"The Prison Service and police have assisted the Border and Immigration Agency by securing the perimeter which has not been breached. GEO, who run the site, have asked the Prison Service for assistance, and a number of specially-trained prison officers have been sent to Campsfield."

Bob Hughes of the Campaign to Close Campsfield has been talking to detainees inside the centre.

He said that the trouble started in the main section of the detention centre, when security staff entered one cell in "full riot gear" to remove Mr Osagie.

"They told me that the guards did not give the man a chance to go quietly, 10 men in riot gear walked straight in at 5.20am and almost went straight in with boots and fists."

A handful of detainees "went wild and broke things", he said.

Detainees reported that the building was cold with water everywhere and some men had not eaten breakfast.

Mr Hughes added the men were all confined in their rooms and "too exhausted" to create any more trouble.

"This is the third call we've had this week reporting attacks on the men by the staff".

Mounted police, dog handlers and "coach-loads" of riot police were at the centre, he said, in an apparent "show of force."