A clash between armed detainees broke out at an immigration detention centre in London.
Inmates with “various weaponry” are involved in “disturbance” at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre.
Riot police are on site and the disorder continues, although it was reportedly contained to one wing of the venue.
It started during a power outage that began this morning, the Home Office said.
The facility, located near Heathrow Airport, is the largest of its kind in Europe, accommodating 676 adult men.
According to a March 2021 report, the site is “used on an occasional basis as a short-term holding facility to accommodate people arriving across the English Channel in small boats’, reports Metro.
It found that the centre was in desperate need of renovations and expressed concern that some men had been detained there for more than a year.
Commenting on this morning’s disturbances, a Home Office spokesman said: “There has been a power outage at Harmondsworth immigration removal centre, and work is currently under way to resolve this issue. We are aware of a disturbance at the centre and the relevant authorities have been notified and are on site,” reports Metro.
The municipal police and the HM prison service intervened at the scene.
A Home Office spokesman also told the PA news agency: “A group of detainees left their rooms and went out into the courtyard area armed with various weaponry. Territorial Support Police were sent to the scene, and the power is still off,” reports Metro.
They added that none of the detainees had left the premises and that there are no reports of injuries.
It comes amid growing scrutiny over conditions at British immigration facilities and the government’s handling of the growing number of people entering the country illegally.
More than 40,000 people made the treacherous journey across the Canal in small boats this year, more than four times the total in 2020.
The prison watchdog called for urgent action this week at the dangerously overcrowded Manston processing plant in Kent after it emerged children were being forced to sleep on the floor.
In March, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons said of Harmondsworth that many inmates had “complex needs” and that “lengthy detention of people with substantial vulnerabilities who had, in some cases, been declared unfit for detention, was also a serious concern,” reports Metro.
One report continued: “It was a concern that some detainees had been held for very lengthy periods, often, we were told, as a result of systemic problems with the provision of suitable release accommodation. Eight people had been in detention for over a year and 26 for more than six months. Yet the majority (58%) were simply released after a potentially damaging period of detention,” reports Metro.
At the time of the March 2021 report there were fewer than 100 occupants at Harmondsworth due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and it has not been inspected since.
Staff were deemed to have adapted well to the new conditions, finding “there was little violence” despite “high level of vulnerability in the population and a substantial amount of self-harm,” reports Metro.
The Home Office declined to say how many people are currently detained there, but confirmed that employment levels had increased in the latest report.
Harmondsworth is managed by the private company Mitie Care and Custody on behalf of the Home Office.
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