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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Chiara Fiorillo & Danielle Desouza & Laura Parnaby

Protestors brave heavy rain to demand closure of refugee detention centre

Hundreds of protestors have braved pouring rain to demand the closure of a detention centre for refugees in Kent.

Action Against Detention And Deportation demonstrators chanted and banged metal pots outside the Manston migrant centre today.

The dangerously overcrowded centre has faced critics this week and a video obtained by the Sunday Mirror this week showed horrific living conditions refugees endure.

Footage of the site, 20 miles from Dover, shows detainees sleeping on mats on the wooden floor of a marquee as temperatures plunge.

One insider told us: "These conditions seem more like a third-world country than something you'd expect to see in Britain. It's appalling."

Protestors braved the rain in Kent today (PA)

Manston was designed to hold 1,600 people, but at its most overcrowded time, a reported 3,500 were held there for weeks.

Today, protestors in the umbrella-clad crowd shouted "shut Manston down", while some unfurled a banner reading: "The enemy doesn't arrive by boat, he arrives by limousine."

Several people raised placards reading "no-one is illegal" and "refugees welcome".

Protesters outside the Manston migrant centre (PA)

Some people also called for the Home Secretary to step down, with a banner saying "Braverman out now".

Videos posted online by protesters showed what appeared to be a mother, father and their baby waving at them from inside the facility.

Benny Hunter, 29, a youth worker from Lewisham, said he attended the Manston protest to "demand a closure to the camp".

Man thought to be a migrant at the window of the migrant centre (PA)

He explained: "We came together as part of Actions Against Detention & Deportations to show solidarity with the people detained illegally inside Manston camp.

"We went there to demand a closure to the camp - and all other immigration detention.

"Women, men and children are being held in appalling conditions when they could instead be in the community.

"Migration is a fact of life and always has been. We want anyone who comes to the UK seeking sanctuary to feel welcomed and to be supported to rebuild their lives here."

A protester holding a banner that says 'Refugees welcome' (PA)

Mr Hunter said it was "horrifying to see children and babies behind barbed wire fences for no other reason than their immigration status".

"I can't imagine the trauma of being detained, without a warrant, without having committed a crime, not knowing when you will be released", he added.

"These families came to save themselves and they have been dealt with in such a brutal way."

It comes after it was revealed the former military base, which opened as a processing centre in February intending to hold a maximum of 1,600 people for 24 hours at a time, was housing around 4,000 for weeks on end.

People thought to be migrants inside the Manston immigration short-term holding facility (PA)

Some asylum seekers described the conditions inside as being like "a prison" and begged for help.

On Wednesday, a young girl threw a bottle containing a letter, which said there were pregnant women and sick detainees inside the centre, over the perimeter fence to a PA news agency photographer.

By Friday, Downing Street said the number of people at Manston had fallen to 2,600, with 1,200 removed from the site within the previous four days.

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