There were day-long protests and a stand-off between immigration detainees and police at Oakington IRC yesterday following the death, currently presumed to be from heart attack, of a 40-year-old Kenyan man yesterday. More than 180 detainees, in their collective anger over what they claimed was a preventable death, broke through the gates of one of the detention centre's compounds* and occupied a courtyard, preventing police and coroners officials entering the room where the man's body lay.
Police riot squads and Prison Service 'Tornado' teams arrived in large numbers throughout yesterday morning, and a tense stand-off between the protesters and a police negotiation team ensued. The detainees threatened to start a hunger strike to protest at the detention centre's lack of care. The dead man had apparently pleaded with G4S staff at the privately run immigration prison for a doctor and painkillers, but staff refused his requests. Oakington is an ex-RAF based that was slated to close in 2006 but remains open with currently no new date announced for its closure.
* Not 'smashed down' the gates as the out-of-breath Cambridge News reporter claims.
2 comments:
I find it scary and very chilling what is going on at the Oakington Concentration Camp. The police and other state "security" agencies keep potential independent witnesses away. Innocent people are being abused by the British state. Who is accountable for this? Meanwhile party leaders perform a charade of debate on national TV, appearing to care!!
........and still G4S are denying medical treatment to detainees.It wouldn't surprise me if G4S was a pseudonym for the BNP!
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