Protest over expansion of Manchester Airport detention centre
04.03.08
Campaigners from the Manchester No Borders group held a 'noise protest' yesterday to highlight the construction company that will expand the immigration detention centre at Manchester Airport. Carillion plc are to carry out the work, and protesters staged a short but noisy protest outside their Manchester offices, drawing attention to the planned expansion of the detention facility and of Carillion’s involvement.
Banners were attached to the compound’s fencing before security guards called the police. When a police van arrived 10 minutes later, the small group of protesters were quickly dispersed. A spokesman for the group said that few of them were stopped by the police, who wrote down their descriptions.
The detention centre at Manchester Airport is a short-term holding facility operated by Group 4 Securicor. It is intended to hold passengers detained by airport immigration staff for further questioning or those who have been refused permission to enter the country and are awaiting removal on the next available flight.
However, the group claim that its main function is as a staging post for detainees being transferred from one place of detention to another, and from detention centres in the North to airports in the South.
The construction work is scheduled to begin in the next few weeks, and will see the centre’s holding capacity double from 16 to 32. This is in line with the government’s plans to increase detention capacity in the UK from 2500 to 4000.
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