BBC
The demonstration followed a number of other protests over the past three years.
Hundreds of people gathered in what is believed to be the largest protest against the women’s immigrant exclusion facility since it opened three years ago.
Demonstrators chanted, sang and lit smoke bombs in a show of solidarity with women inside the Derwentside Immigration Removal Center (IRC) in County Durham.
The site houses women awaiting deportation from the UK, which activists say is causing suffering to vulnerable people.
The Home Office told the BBC that the country’s migrant exclusion complexes are constantly being reviewed to ensure they have sufficient capacity.
The center in Hassockfield, Consett, had space for 84 people when it replaced Yarl’s Wood as the UK’s only women’s center in November 2021.
The facility is located on the site of Medhamsley Detention Center, now synonymous with historic abuse of boys and young people.
Protests give women hope
Opponents say women are kept indefinitely in remote rural sites and describe the practice as “cruel, isolating and unnecessary.”
Emma Pearson, from the No Hassocks Field campaign group, said: “Detention does not serve the purpose the government claims it will serve.
“70 to 80 per cent of people are being released into the UK community.”
Activist Emma Pearson says demonstrations give her moral support.
Maggie Moyo, from the group This Walls Must Fall, said women at the center would know the demonstration was a show of support for them.
“One of our members who was detained a few years ago said there was a protest outside and he could hear them. [the demonstrators] The pots were banging and making noises, and that gave her hope. ”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Following the change of government, plans for the Derwentside IRC are under review.”
The government says the center’s health services are designed to meet the specific needs of residents and address issues such as domestic violence, sexual abuse, mental health and, in exceptional circumstances, pregnancy. .
In August, politicians and campaigners said they were “angry” and “disappointed” by Labor’s plans to reopen an immigration detention center near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.
In response, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government was “taking strong and clear steps to strengthen border security and ensure the rules are respected and enforced”.
