Detainees armed with weapons cause 'disturbance' at immigration centre during power outage
A group of detainees at an immigration centre armed with weapons caused a “disturbance” during a power outage on Friday night, the Home Office has said.
No one was injured during the incident at Harmondsworth detention centre near Heathrow Airport, but the power was still out just before 9am on Saturday, according to the Home Office.
Metropolitan Police officers attended the incident at 7.45pm on Friday and they are still at the scene on Saturday morning, the force said.
The department said in a statement: “There has been a power outage at Harmondsworth immigration removal centre, and work is currently under way to resolve this issue.
“We are aware of a disturbance at the centre and the appropriate authorities have been notified and are on scene.
“The welfare and safety of staff and individuals detained at Harmondsworth is our key priority.”
Territorial Support Police from the Met and HM Prison Service are at the scene, where the power still has not been restored.
It is understood that a group of detainees left their rooms and went out into the courtyard area armed with various weaponry.
None of the detainees left the premises during the incident, and they have since been returned to their rooms.
The Home Secretary has been under fire this week as she battled to grip the migrant crisis amid threats of legal action, sexual assault allegations at a hotel housing asylum seekers and international criticism of her use of language.
Suella Braverman, who was reinstated to her ministerial post just over a week ago, arrived at the Manston migrant holding centre near Ramsgate on Thursday in a Chinook helicopter. Ms Braverman has come under mounting political pressure over the illegal conditions at the site near Ramsgate, where at one point as many as 4,000 people were being detained for weeks in a site intended to hold 1,600 for a matter of days.
Earlier she visited Dover to view the Western Jet Foil immigration facility, the scene of a petrol bomb attack on Sunday that was declared a terrorist incident on Saturday, but refused to answer questions.
Ms Braverman dodged questions as on her visit amid concerns of rising far-right activity fuelled by the failure to control the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats
Andrew Leak, 66, from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, is believed to have killed himself after throwing two or three “crude” incendiary devices at the Western Jet Foil site, in Kent, last Sunday.
Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) said on Saturday evidence has been recovered that indicates the attack “was motivated by a terrorist ideology”.
The Home Office said steps are being taken “immediately” to improve conditions at Manston, including bolstering medical facilities, supplying extra bedding and better catering as well as more activities to support migrant welfare.
Enver Soloman, CEO of Refugee Council told ITV News that this week's events showed the asylum system, which can see people waiting months, or even longer, for the claim to be processed amid a government backlog, was "not working".
"People must be treated with respect and dignity" - Enver Soloman, CEO of Refugee Council says the government needs to act to resolve the issues within the asylum system
"It's not working in a very basic way, to treat people with dignity, with respect and with compassion," Mr Soloman said.
He continued: "And it's not working to ensure the system is orderly, so that cases are dealt with quickly and that people aren't left for months, even years, on end, awaiting a decision on their asylum claim. "It's absolutely vital that the government acts quickly to improve the asylum system. It can be done, there are measure that can be taken to get a grip of the situation.
"But what must happen first and foremost is that people are treated with decency and with respect, and I don't think that has been happening this week, and the evidence of that is very clear."
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