Hunger Strike at Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre
Last week, 120 people detained in Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre went on hunger strike in protest over the conditions of their detention and UK detention and deportation policies.
You can read the demands of the hunger strikers on the Detained Voices blog, which is also being updated regularly with statements by the strikers.
SOAS Detainee Support who are in touch with the strikers have written ‘4 actions you can take to support the Yarl’s Wood strikers’, including signing this petition calling on the Home Office to grant their demands and also sharing the strikers’ demands and testimonies on social media via Detained Voices using #HungerForFreedom.
POSTSCRIPT
Another hunger strike, another place, same Home Office policies...
Home Office to meet Glasgow 'hunger strike' family
The Kamils say they have been in "limbo" for the last 14 years pending a decision about their legal status.
Originally from Kurdish Iraq, the asylum seekers told BBC Scotland they wanted the Home Office to rule on their request for permanent residency.
They said the uncertainty was affecting their plans to work and study.
The family began their protest on Wednesday evening outside Home Office premises in Brand Street, Glasgow. [...]
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UPDATE: Glasgow hunger strike family granted leave to remain 5 July 2018
"A family who staged a hunger strike outside an immigration centre have been granted leave to remain in the UK.
"The Kamils said they had been waiting 18 years for a decision about their legal status.
Originally from Kurdish Iraq, the asylum seekers began their protest last Wednesday at the Home Office premises in Brand Street, Glasgow.
"But on Thursday it emerged their campaign had been a success and they would all be allowed to stay."
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UPDATE: Glasgow hunger strike family granted leave to remain 5 July 2018
"A family who staged a hunger strike outside an immigration centre have been granted leave to remain in the UK.
"The Kamils said they had been waiting 18 years for a decision about their legal status.
Originally from Kurdish Iraq, the asylum seekers began their protest last Wednesday at the Home Office premises in Brand Street, Glasgow.
"But on Thursday it emerged their campaign had been a success and they would all be allowed to stay."
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| Further update, see comments below for story. |
See also "Docs Not Cops" for more about what (some) doctors are doing on this sort of issue:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.docsnotcops.co.uk/
Another story from Scotland, 31-7-18: "Council taskforce to help asylum seekers facing eviction" at
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-45022272
"Glasgow City Council has set up a taskforce in a bid to help up to 300 asylum seekers facing eviction.
The move comes as a lawyer claimed Home Office contractor Serco planned to "act unlawfully" after families were notified their locks would be changed.
Hundreds of people staged a protest against the plans outside the city's Buchanan Galleries on Tuesday..."
"Scots common law has long since prohibited eviction without due process of law against residential occupiers..."
And another one, further to the above;
ReplyDelete"'Hunger strike' over refugee evictions" - "Two Afghan men have gone on hunger strike outside the Home Office in Glasgow after being told they are to be evicted from their homes. #Rahman Shah and Irwais Ahmadzai are among 300 asylum seekers in the city facing eviction by contractor Serco after being refused refugee status. #Mr Shah and Mr Ahmadzi say Afghanistan is not a safe place to return to. #And they say they will continue their protest until the Home Office agrees to look again at their cases." https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-45036809
Victory in sight? "Glasgow asylum seeker evictions 'could be stopped'" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-45069712 (with links to previous developments - Two arrests at Serco eviction protest in Glasgow, 3/8; Court of Session bid to stop asylum seeker evictions, 2/8).
ReplyDeleteFurther update:
ReplyDeleteSerco loses asylum accommodation contract for Scotland. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-46801589 "The company was criticised last summer after it announced a rolling lock-change eviction process for those not given refugee status in Glasgow."