Reports are emerging of what appears to have been a riot at Campsfield House, an immigration detention centre in Oxfordshire. Details at this point are sketchy, but it appears that small fires were started and that detainees were returned to their cells by prison officers in riot gear. According to corporate media accounts, there was a heavy police presence with some 50 officers in attendance and a helicopter overhead. A cordon was set up and dog handlers patrolled the perimeter.

This is the latest in a series of "disturbances" at the facility. In August last year, 26 immigrants managed to escape. Prior to that in March, an Algerian man attempted to forcefully resist efforts by immigration authorities to remove him. When fellow detainees attempted to help him a riot ensued in which 2 detainees and 7 staff staff were hospitalised.

Previous Features: 26 migrants escape immigration prison in Oxford | Resistance and Riot in Campsfield | Campsfield detainees on hunger strike | Close Campsfield Now!

Links: Campaign to Close Down Campsfield | No Borders Network | Indymedia UK Migration Topic Page