Demonstration*
Saturday 4th August
1 pm to 2.00pm
HMP Liverpool
Hornby Rd.
Liverpool
(near Walton Merseyrail station)

Merseyside Against Detention, Asylum Link, and NCADC held a protest outside HMP Liverpool, on Sunday 29th July, in support of Immigration detainees on hunger strike.

Another demonstration will take place this Saturday 4th August. Liverpool Trades Council, UNISON (North West Region), and the Fire Brigades Union have pledged their support. The CWU (post and telecom) are also mobilising.

Last Sunday's protest was widely reported in the local media and nationally on BBC Ceefax. Coverage continued on Monday with phone-ins on BBC Radio Merseyside and Radio Leicester.

Not reported in local or national media last week, were hunger strikes by immigration detainees at Haslar and Lindholme detention/prisons. A detainee in Rochester detention/prison has been on hunger strike since July 15th. Also not reported is the alarming rise in the number of attempts at self harm within the Home Office detention estate.

After the demo, visitors entered the prison for their first direct meetings with detainees since the hunger strike began, and were able to report on the demonstration and the flood of solidarity messages. As of Sunday afternoon an estimated 60-80 immigration detainees in HMP Liverpool (Walton prison) remain on hunger strike demanding their release. "This time we know we're doing the right thing," one striker declared. "We're always being told we're wrong, but this is the only action we can take."

Other prisoners on remand in HMP Liverpool, have expressed sympathy. "We don't see why you're in here. And at least we know when we're getting out."

Immigration detainees from Algeria, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Zaire, Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Albania, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Bangladesh, and Jamaica, are believed to be amongst those who participated.

The action began on Thursday 26 July. For two days, hunger strikers were prevented from using the phone. On Friday the Home Office told the BBC the strike had ended Thursday evening. The story finally broke on Sunday. But when questioned by Granada TV, the Home Office denied any knowledge of the hunger strike. For more detail on the disinformation, see: http://www.labournet.net/antiracism/0107/disinfo1.html

In a letter to Home Office Minister Lord Rooker on 29 July, the Liberal Peer Lord Avebury commented that allegations of "degrading and inhumane conditions endured by Immigration Act detainees" in HMP Liverpool echo "similar complaints about Cardiff and Winchester, and I know that Ministers themselves are uneasy about the practice of detaining asylum seekers in prisons... The only issue between us is how quickly the use of prisons can be ended. You have said that you will do so by Christmas, which mean keeping innocent people in establishments such as Liverpool for another five months."

Around 100 people are confined indefinitely in HMP Liverpool (Walton prison). No court has authorised their detention. Instead, they are held at the whim of immigration officers. Most of the detainees are asylum seekers fleeing persecution and seeking refuge in the UK. As exiles, they think of those left behind and their own uncertain future as refugees.

Inside Walton, they are locked up 23 hours per day, denied education, allowed 1 shower per week, forced to wear a prison track suit, and allowed association once a week - if staff are available. They must wait for permission to phone out and cannot receive calls. The phone and post are monitored. Staff tell them 'you are not a prisoner, you are a detainee'. They are frequently invited to sign papers for their own deportation. Several have attempted suicide.

All prison life is grim. For those who know they are innocent, it is intolerable. Detainees have not even been charged, let alone convicted, of any crime. And because they are held indefinitely, they do not know when, or if, they can expect to be freed. Imprisonment is an assault on their human rights, and violates UN conventions, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the UK's own Human Rights Act.

*Demonstration called by Merseyside Against Detention, Asylum Link (Merseyside), National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns

Supported by Liverpool Trades Council, Merseyside Fire Brigades Union, UNISON North West Region, UNISON Sefton Metropolitan Branch, UNISON Liverpool City Branch

Downloadable leaflets are available on:

http://www.labournet.net/default.asp

Further information:

Tony Openshaw, NCADC-North West

Greg Dropkin, Merseyside Against Detention

Messages of solidarity to the Hunger strikers can be faxed to;

0161-740-7113 from outside the UK +44-161-740-7113

or e-mailed: