People being held inside Harmondsworth immigration centre have been left terrified, claiming they’ve been 'abandoned' by staff and officers as they enter their second day without running water or electricity.
Riot police descended on the detention centre shortly before 8pm last night amid a number of reports about a protest or major disturbance including claims of detainees being armed.
There were no arrests or injuries but Met Police remained at the scene this morning and pictures showed a heavy police presence at the centre, near Heathrow Airport.
One detainee who spoke to the Mirror said inside the centre the detainees themselves were terrified, not receiving their medications and with no clue what is happening.
Speaking to The Mirror, the man, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “I’ve not had any medication for nearly two days, I can’t function I’m in pain, I need it … my voice is gone from shouting ‘officer, officer, officer help us’.
“People are banging on the doors, they're terrified, I’m afraid for my life.”
Harmondsworth detention centre is an immigration removal centre, holding men only before they are flown out of the country, and a short term holding facility.
The man, who has been held at the centre for 14 months, said that no one had seen an officer since 1.30am.
In the time since, an atmosphere of fear descended on the detainees who felt they had been abandoned, and still remain without flowing water or power.
After the power went out Thursday at midnight, detainees were kept in their cells far longer than usual into Friday morning.
When they were finally let out, they had no running water, and when asked what they should do, the detainee said to the Mirror that one manager told them to “s*** in a bag”.
The man, who has been in England almost all of his life, said: “We can’t flush the toilets, we don’t know what to do, the manager told us to ‘s*** in the bag’.”
Then, Friday evening, the man went out in the courtyard when they were locked out there with 50 others without any warning.
As temperatures plummeted as low as five degrees Celsius, the 50 of them were kept there until 1:30am, with no one telling them what was happening.
Then they were led back in one-by-one straight to their cells, with officers at the centre refusing to tell them what was going on.
On their way back in, the man noticed toilet roll and bins thrown around the building.
They said: “We were left out until half past one in the morning and then one by one they took us in and locked us up in our cells.
“But there was nobody here all night. They abandoned us. There’s still no power or running water this morning I don’t know what to do.
“Last time I heard from an officer was half past one in the morning, we haven’t seen anyone since.
“There are people with epilepsy and heart problems not getting medication … someone had health problems and asked me ‘what should I do?’ and I said ‘I don’t know! How should I know?’”
The man says the emergency buzzer system isn't working either due to the power cut with detainees' shouts for help either ignored, or not heard.
The jarring testimony comes after reports throughout this morning of a disturbance at the detention centre overnight.
The Home Office said the issue peaked at around 2am but the detainee denied there had been any weapons, or protest inside that they were aware of.
Reports suggested the incident involved over a 100 detainees at the centre getting into the courtyard, something they also denied.
Riot police were pictured descending on the centre and there have been no injuries or arrests and police bosses were being fed live images of the incident as well.
Met Police officers remain at the scene this morning and the detainees were taken by bus to other centres as attempts were made to fix the power.
Minister for Immigration Robert Jenrick said: "There was disruption overnight at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre after a loss of power. Thankfully no staff working or individuals detained there were hurt, despite clear evidence of unacceptable levels of violence and disorder. The priority now is to move people to other centres while engineers fix the power fault and repair any damage.
“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.
“The Home Secretary and I have been kept abreast of events throughout the night and today by our hard-working teams. I have also visited the site today and I expect the centre to be empty by the end of the day. I am grateful to Home Office staff, contractors and officers from HMPPS and the Metropolitan police for their professionalism and practical support.”
A spokesperson for the Met Police said: “Police officers have been providing support to staff dealing with a disturbance at the Harmondsworth immigration removal centre. Met officers attended the location at approximately 19:45hrs on Friday, 4 November. Officers remain at the location.”
The incident comes after Manston immigration centre hit the news for extreme overcrowding that left people sleeping on the floor and begging for help.
Charity SOAS Detainee Support warned that such incidences shouldn't be surprising following the government's handling of immigration.
Joseph Maggs, a coordinator at SOAS told the Mirror: "It’s no surprise this issue has taken place. The issues at Harmondsworth are long standing, of really poor conditions, vermin, filth, for a lot of people not getting the food they need, especially vegetarians … that has happened before, not just during the power cut and last night."
He said that SOAS had spoken to a second detainee who said the cells had been so cold they felt like they were 'freezing to death' overnight.
He added: "One key problem at Harmondsworth is a massive lack of communication. People don't know what’s going on, they don’t know when they’ll be let out their rooms, when they can shower, charge their phones …. They also don’t know if they’ll be there after the government’s failure in Manston."
Reports claim around one hundred people are due to be moved from Harmondsworth to make way for people coming from the overcrowded Manston.
Mr Maggs added: "This is just the sharp edge of a much wider problem of detaining people in appalling conditions, not making provisions for adequate conditions, it’s no wonder these kinds of things happen … you need complete overhaul of the way the system is run. It’s focused on hostility and suspicion and incarceration."
