Solidarity with asylum seekers. Close down Communications House!
London FRFI has been holding monthly demonstrations outside Communications House Immigration Reporting Centre for over a year. We spoke to Dixy, an asylum seeker from Congo Brazzaville, who reports there weekly:
‘I came to England in 1999. My brother was granted asylum because he was an activist in my country. But they said that because I was too young, I would not be persecuted if I returned. In June 2006 I was taken to Harmondsworth. It is not a good place to be, the regime is bad, the people who run the centre bully detainees. For example they don’t allow you to go to the library, to move around. What it says on paper is not what happens in practice. You are stopped from researching your case. You are told to get back into your room. They want you to take voluntary return so they make it harsh deliberately to force you to want to go.
‘People were frustrated. Some were new arrivals; fresh claimants and they were confused. Being detained was mental torture. Some were screaming. They had thought they were coming to safety. They didn’t think they’d be put in prison.
‘At Communications House there is also a bad administration and regime. People have to queue outside. It’s deliberate, done on purpose to humiliate you. At the end of the day though, we are strong people and we don’t give up. We have survived torture and things so we will get through this type of treatment.
‘The movement outside Communications House is good because people pass the building and see people queuing and don’t know what it is. By doing stalls outside you help show people what the place is. It lets British people know what some people who live in England go through on a daily basis. We are victimised and people are not aware.’
FRFI 198 August/September 2007
