Immigrants stage rooftop protest

Twelve Algerians staged a rooftop protest at an immigration centre yesterday after one of their countrymen was moved to a prison.

The protest began at lunchtime on Wednesday and escalated during the evening when more than 100 detainees at Campsfield House, near Oxford, gathered near the perimeter fence. No break-out was attempted, but a dozen detainees scaled the flat roof of the centre where they remained yesterday. A spokesman for Group 4, which runs the camp, said the detainee who was moved to Winson Green Prison in Birmingham had made a series of threats and sexual suggestions to a member of staff. Campsfield holds nearly 200 illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. It has been previously criticised over the health care provided for detainees. Louise Jury