'Worse than a work house' - protesters call for Kent's migrant centre to close
Protesters are calling for the Manston migrant processing centre in Kent to close with one describing the conditions there as "worse than a work house".
A vigil is planned outside the site on Wednesday 2 November where protesters say they plan to highlight the "shocking conditions" there.
Candy Gregory is part of the Thanet Left group and is also a local Thanet District Councillor who plans to attend the vigil.
She has slammed the "dire" conditions at the site and referenced the outbreak of diphtheria which she says "shouldn't be happening in this day and age".
She also mentioned the site's overcrowding and "inhumane" conditions with a concern for the health of children in particular.
On Sunday flammable devices were thrown at a Border Force migrant centre in Dover yesterday - with police confirming the suspect was later found dead.
Following the attack, around 700 suspected migrants were relocated to Manston which Candy says "compounded the situation" there.
She said: "If you think back to the turn of the last century when there were work houses, it must be very similar.
"The conditions can't be great. Overcrowding, as any health care professional will tell you, creates very unhygienic and unsavoury conditions which is why they have got a disease going round that we thought was eradicated.
"Worse than a work house I would say, there was a degree of hope in a work house. There's no hope at the moment."
She added: "We are very aware that the Home Office isn't doing what it should be doing.
"It certainly seems to lack compassion and humanity regarding people who are facing persecution and wars in their own countries.
"We're calling for these people to be treated with dignity and compassion.
"Process their applications and get them into society, they want to work they want to be part of society and we must ask Suella Braverman to step up, do her job, think of the conditions, use some humanity and please think of these people and what they're suffering at the moment."
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