Armed Detainees Cause ‘Unacceptable’ Violence at UK Immigration Centre During Power Cut

A general view of the Harmondsworth immigration detention centre in Middlesex, England, on Nov. 29, 2006. (Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)

A group of armed detainees caused an “unacceptable” level of “violence and disorder” at an immigration removal centre in London during a power outage, a British minister has said.

The incident took place at the Harmondsworth detention centre near Heathrow Airport on the night of Nov. 4.

According to UK media reports, 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.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said on Nov. 5 that those responsible for the disturbance will be “held to account.”

He said in a statement: “Thankfully no staff working or individuals detained there were hurt, despite clear evidence of unacceptable levels of violence and disorder.

“The public should be reassured that offenders and others waiting removal from the UK are being held securely.

“The perpetrators of this disturbance will be held to account and, where appropriate, removed from the country as swiftly as is practicable.”

Metropolitan Police officers attended the incident at 7:45 p.m. on Nov. 4 but did not make any arrests, the force said.

The Home Office said it would move the detainees to other centres while engineers fix the power and repair the damage.

Detainees inside the Manston short-term holding centre for illegal immigrants wave to members of the media outside, near Ramsgate, Kent, southeast England, on Nov. 3, 2022. (Daniel Leal /AFP via Getty Images)

‘Cheek’

It comes after illegal immigrants and pro-immigration campaigners complained about the conditions at another immigration centre.

Campaigners are threatening legal action against UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman over conditions at the Manston holding centre for illegal immigrants in Kent, where at one point as many as 4,000 people were being detained in a site intended to hold just 1,600.

Lawyers on behalf of Detention Action, an NGO, and a woman held at Manston sent an urgent pre-action letter to the Home Office on Nov. 1, slamming “the unlawful treatment of people held at the facility” and the “egregiously defective conditions” there.

But Chris Philp, a Home Office minister, said the centre is “legally compliant” and the UK’s asylum accommodation is “better than most European countries.”

Talking to Times Radio on Nov. 4, Philp said, “If people choose to enter a country illegally and unnecessarily, it is a bit of a cheek to then start complaining about the conditions when you’ve illegally entered a country without necessity.”

He said that people who had passed through other countries in Europe “don’t even have to come here,” and described the numbers as “overwhelming.”

“We’re spending something like two or three billion pounds a year looking after people who have entered the country illegally and unnecessarily,” he added.

PA Media contributed to this report.