Bet The Guardian didn't tell their readers this...

[alixandrea]

From SchNews no. 348
"When I asked what the officers were doing with all this situation, they said there is no officers, cos they all run away. I just couldn't believe it... I saw that all doors and the gates (we had them along the whole corridors) were locked. No officers, no police, no fire brigade or anybody else. Only scared people everywhere...The some male detainees (mostly black) were trying to get people outside the building. Cos if it hadn't been for them we would all be burned in that fire."
From a woman detained at Yarls Wood during the fire

It's been over a month since the Yarl's Wood Detention Centre in
Bedfordshire burned down, but the true story of what happened on that day is still no clearer. The government's response -a promise to toughen up their policies with more detention centres, increased security, faster removal times for failed asylum seekers, and reduced access to the judicial system.

Yarl's Wood only opened last November -built at an estimated cost of £100 million and run by Group 4 under licence from the Home Office. To make asylum seekers feel welcome they've installed security equivalent to a category B prison, surrounded by 16ft high fences topped by razor wire with moving cameras and microwave detection units to prevent escape. According to the government the centre is supposed to house 'failed' asylum seekers facing immediate deportation, yet their own statistics reveal that only 46 of the 385 detainees at Yarl's Wood on the night of the fire were waiting to be deported.

Ever since the first people were locked up there has been constant
protests about conditions. In January nearly all the detainees, went on hunger strike for 24 hours, while on the afternoon of 14th February, the day the fire started, trouble flared after a woman was handcuffed so she could be taken to hospital. At some point later a fire started. It's not clear where, although many detainees believe it started in the reception area to which they have no access. Shocking stories from those who were inside on the day are only now emerging.

"The incident started when detainees saw a woman aged about 55 being restrained and they were concerned for her safety. Women were told to stay in their rooms by staff. Families were waiting in their rooms for Group 4 to tell them what to do. Three hours later, when they became aware of the fire, and the building started to fill with smoke and heat, they were still inside waiting.

Exits and doors were locked. There was no evacuation by Group 4.
Detainees got one another out of the burning building. Once outside, they saw others trapped in their rooms calling for help, unable to breathe. One man opened his door and found flames outside. Detainees shouted to Group 4 or the police asking them to help those who were trapped. With exits being closed, the only way out of the burning building would have been to try to smash their way through high security toughened windows which are designed to open only a few inches.

Some detainees tried to put the fire out themselves, but when they saw they couldn't, they shouted to firemen to come in. Others said police or Group 4 tried to push them back in to the building, or blocked their exit when they tried to get out.

Detainees, including a 2 month old baby, were kept outside most of the night in freezing weather. Bedfordshire County Council had transport, social facilities including a school available to provide respite care but they were not used. People were herded around the site by police/Group 4, who shouted at them and tried to make them gather near to the burning building on tennis courts. When people protested, they pushed them on to the unused part of the building."

Deportation Department
Whilst Group 4 were busy locking the detainees inside it appears that fire fighters were being locked out from the burning building. Had they got they could well have prevented much of the estimated £38 million of damage. Home Secretary David Blunkett was quick to blame the fire and the lack of access for the fire fighters, on the detainees, complaining "Having removed asylum seekers from prison, we now find that our reward is the burning down of a substantial part of the facility, this is deplorable".

The Fire Brigade Union (FBU) however are refusing to tow the official line and have attacked the Home Office and Group 4 for refusing to install a sprinkler system. Andy Gilchrist from the FBU said "It is clear that [they] have put their private profit before the lives of asylum seekers thereby treating them as second class citizens. Group 4 flatly refused to put a sprinkler system into these premises to cut their costs." Fire fighters who were at Yarl's Wood have also contradicted claims that it was asylum seeker who stopped them getting in to put out the fire. A spokesman said "None of the fire fighters has a bad word to say against the asylum seekers, we are only demoralised because we were prevented from doing our job." In the light of what they
saw at Yarl's Wood, the FBU are now calling for the immediate release of all asylum seekers from detention centres until they can be made safe.

Group 4 is the largest security firm in the world, and are also involved in Campsfield detention centre. In 1997 after mass protests at Campsfield, 10 detainees were charged with rioting, but the subsequent trial collapsed after it became evident that the Group 4 security guards were lying and had themselves caused criminal damage. No action was ever brought against the company.

For those who were locked up in Yarl's Wood on that night of the fire 70 have now been transferred to prisons, some of them are in solitary confinement, although none of them have been charged with any offence. 19 are still missing, the official line is that they've escaped, although it can't be ruled out that they may have died in the blaze, a detailed forensic investigation of the site only began late February and is expected to take 2 months. In what is looking like a massive cover up, access by friends and relatives to many of those that knew what went on during that day has been denied, and key witnesses to events have been deported. Shakir Hussain a solicitor representing some of the asylum seekers, has already had one client removed without any warning
"It seems to me that any potential witnesses were put in segregation and shipped out as soon as possible". There is real fear among campaigners that these moves could stop investigators getting to the truth.

* There are 22 million displaced people in the world.
* The top five countries of origin for asylum seekers
in the UK are Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sri Lanka
and Turkey.The average time for an initial decision
on asylum applications is currently 14 months. Last
year 69% of asylum applications considered were refused.
* Currently 2,800 asylum seekers are locked up even
though they've committed no crime this figure is set
to rise to 4,000.year. This includes the detention
of whole families.