Abolish All Immigration Prisons

On Saturday, 70 activists gathered outside Manchester town hall to protest at the continuing imprisonment of asylum seekers in Pennine House Detention Centre, adjacent to Manchester Airport. How many of the happy holiday makers are aware of what is going on just 100 yards away from Terminal 2, I wonder? Conditions in detention centres are horrific, with many asylum seekers choosing hunger strikes as their only means of protesting the environment in which they are locked up. In Tinsley Detention Centre, food is produced off site and is three days old ("spoilt" as one inmate put it) by the time it arrives before the asylum seekers. Portion sizes are inadequate and parents have gone on hunger strike to protest the hunger experienced by their children. We have to be absolutely clear that "Detention Centre" is merely a euphamism for prison... but these prisons contain people who have committed no crime.

Saturday's protest was organised by Manchester No Borders, and largely comprised of anarchists and general campaigners, with few from the Socialist/Communist left. Permanent Revolution had 4 along but the SWP, CPB and the like were absent. After a rally outside the Town Hall, the athletic half of the demonstration cycled off to Manchester Airport (about 7 miles away). They took with them a dummy of the immigration minister Phil Woolas, locked in a cage. The other half of the demonstration, including myself, then briefly attended a protest against deportations of the Congolese to show our solidarity, before heading by train to Manchester Airport. It wasn't easy to get into the Pennine House car park to protest, and about a third of all demonstrators were searched. The receipt for my search is actually ludicrously flattering: I refused to give any personal details, but my physical description reads "Known Protester - Blonde - Slim". Why thank you, Officer.

The search was only one aspect of the massive policing of Saturday's demonstration. A helicopter followed the cyclist contingent overhead. Police officers accompanied us on the train both ways. Police dogs and horses were on standby, in case the huge police presence, helicopter and searches weren't quite intimidating enough. With five megaphones and an assortment of drums, sirens and other loud things, there is little doubt in my mind, however, that those detained in Pennine House could hear our protest. And we made the BBC, which isn't so bad.