Six detainees escape after detention centre riot: Police arrest 22 'troublemakers' after quelling mass protest over planned deportation of asylum seeker

THREE INQUIRIES were launched yesterday after eight inmates escaped following a riot at an immigration detention centre near Oxford.

Six were still on the loose last night as Labour demanded an independent investigation into the centre, which is run by Group 4, the private security firm.

About 70 police officers, some with riot shields and helmets, were used to break up the mass disturbance in which six detainees were injured and 22 'troublemakers' were arrested and held in custody.

The riot broke out on Sunday night at Campsfield House, Kidlington, in protest at the planned deportation without warning of an Algerian asylum seeker.

Since it was opened last November, at a cost of pounds 5m, there has been a spate of demonstrations at the largest detention centre in the country. Earlier this year more than half the 200 inmates went on hunger strike as part of a national demonstration involving 10 jails and detention centres. And last Christmas it was at the centre of controversy when a group of Jamaicans were held there after an immigration clampdown on a charter flight from Kingston.

Foreigners seeking asylum in Britain have been protesting at the Government's immigration policy of locking up a growing number of applicants for more than a year while their cases are considered. They have also criticised the Home Office for deporting failed applicants without giving them proper notice.

The riot began when detainees learnt that Ali Tamaret, a 30-year- old Algerian, had been taken from Campsfield to Gatwick airport for a flight to Algeria yesterday morning. Mr Tamaret, who fears persecution in his home country from an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist group, has had appeals to stay in Britain rejected. However, the Home Office yesterday agreed to delay his deportation until today.

As news of the planned deportation reached fellow detainees up to 100 went on the rampage, wrecking a shop and damaged kitchens a dining room, and bathrooms. Several small fires were started and surveillance cameras and windows were smashed, causing more than pounds 20,000 of damage.

Group 4 called for help from Thames Valley Police who sent in riot police. Eight detainees are believed to have escaped over the fence. Of the six still at large, two are Algerian, two Indian, one Nigerian and the nationality of the sixth was unknown. Three more detainees injured their ankles falling on concrete on the other side and one broke his leg jumping from the detention centre roof.

Police removed protesters from the roof and brought the centre under control early yesterday. Ken Fero, of the Campaign Against Immigration Act Detention who witnessed the unrest, said: 'The scene was incredible. It was a battle all through the night - detainees were burning things and smashing things up as they tried to resist being arrested and being taken away. I saw four people being carried out on stretchers.'

The Home Office yesterday asked for reports from the Immigration Service, the police and Group 4. During a visit to view the damage, Charles Wardle, the Home Office minister, dismissed the complaints about Campsfield, as a 'vicious rumour campaign' stirred up by 'a motley coalition of left-wing supporters'.

A spokesman for Group 4 said the company would be reviewing the incident but stressed that tackling violent disturbances was not part of its job at Campsfield.

Letters, page 17

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