Campaigners who attended a protest against Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre are calling for the centre to be closed immediately.
Former barrister Kate Lampard is currently carrying out an independent investigation into Yarl’s Wood and on Saturday (06/06/15), more than 400 campaigners gathered outside the Bedfordshire immigration removal centre.
Most detainees are failed asylum seekers and the prison is used to accommodate women who are awaiting deportation.
Labour peer Baroness Kennedy QC and Shami Chakrabarti – director of Liberty – attended the rally, along with protesters from as far away as Cornwall.
The protest was organised by Sophie Radice from the charity Women for Refugee Women.
Ms Radice said:
“The atmosphere is defiant and it’s been a real show of force.
“We’ll carry on until the abomination that is Yarl’s Wood is shut down.”
Conservative MP for Bedford, Richard Fuller, told campaigners that no purpose was served “by locking up vulnerable women indefinitely in Yarl’s Wood”.
Mr Fuller said the government’s policy of detaining failed asylum seekers was “inefficient, unjust and expensive” – and called for urgent reform.
A recent parliamentary report criticised Home Office officials and said they were failing to follow guidelines that immigration detention should be used “sparingly” – and detainees should not be held for long periods of time in detention centres awaiting deportation.
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