Crowds gathered at the gates of a Durham detention centre in a powerful display of solidarity with migrant communities. Calling for the release of the women trapped inside, they demanded a new approach to migration and an end to the traumatic, unnecessary and expensive practice of immigration detention. The demonstration, led by campaigners with lived experience of the UK’s immigration and detention system, took place on 18 October outside Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) in Durham, the UK’s only immigration detention centre exclusively for women.
Organised by The No to Hassockfield Campaign, These Walls Must Fall and Right to Remain, the event brought hundreds of people from cities across the north – Newcastle, Durham, Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield – to Derwentside IRC. Meanwhile, as part of a National Day of Solidarity to end immigration detention, local events took place in cities across the country, from London to Glasgow. The day was intended to highlight the powerful solidarity with people subject to the immigration system that exists throughout the UK, and call on the government to stop ‘ramping up the hostile environment’.
Demonstrators heard from people with first-hand experience of the trauma of detention, with speeches highlighting the injustices faced by women in Derwentside, many of whom are survivors of gender-based violence, trafficking, and exploitation. One speaker told the crowd:
“The moment you step in there, you are called by a number. You don’t have a name. When you go in there, you come out your life will never, ever be the same. Even when you have your papers, you will still be traumatised. You cannot live in a house with a bunch of keys because the sound of keys will remind you of that detention. That is what we are fighting against.”
Another said:
“I’ve been in there. To be in there is trauma, it’s depression. It’s inhuman. I’ve been in this country for 20 years, they tell me to go, where should I go? This is my community, I’ve been here, I’ve been helping in the NHS, I came here fleeing a tyrant and I find the same oppression here. We are one family, let’s unite and build the country together, let’s treat each other with dignity. We are gathered here as one family to fight the system. It’s inhumane to be in here, the people who are in here are not criminals, they are seeking sanctuary.”
“Set her free”
The day was particularly emotional for campaigners from women’s group 4Wings, in Liverpool, who’d been preparing to attend the event when they were hit by the shocking news that one of their members, a trafficking survivor and beloved community member named Arjeta, had been suddenly detained and brought to Derwentside. The sudden detention of Arjeta, who had been rebuilding her life and supporting other women in Liverpool, shows how the terror of detention affects whole communities, and prevents trauma survivors from moving forward. Demonstrators chanted “set her free” as Arjeta spoke from inside the detention centre on speaker phone to the crowd outside, telling them the women inside could hear their songs and chants.
Organisers aimed to highlight the wasteful and unnecessary nature of detention: when the majority of detainees are released back into the community, and evidence shows alternatives to detention are better for everyone. And with community singing and colourful banners, they sent a message to the women inside that they are not alone.
Maggy Moyo, campaign organiser at lived experience campaign group These Walls Must Fall, said: “Today was important for us to show solidarity to women detained not only in Derwentside but in many other detention centres. Detention compromises people’s mental health permanently, it’s not a policy but a punishment tool that our government uses to punish already vulnerable communities.”
Dr Helen Groom from the No to Hassockfield campaign, said: “The protest was vibrant, peaceful and loud: we made sure that the women imprisoned in Derwentside know that they are not forgotten. We will not stop protesting against Derwentside IRC whilst it remains open. Whilst this government and right-wing agitators ramp up the hostile environment, we remain steadfast in campaigning to shut it down. In a world riven with conflict it is no surprise that vulnerable and desperate people are seeking sanctuary. We would all do the same if we were in their shoes. More than fifty per cent of people on the move across the world are women and children. They face violence at every stage of their journeys and when they finally arrive in Europe where they hope to find safety they are faced with appalling levels of racism and institutional violence.
“Kindness and compassion should be our watchwords. At No To Hassockfield we remain steadfast in our campaign to end the cruel practice of detention. The case of our friend Arjeta, a woman subject to modern-day slavery, who was trafficked and trapped in the UK, sought sanctuary and who was detained in Derwentside while we protested outside this weekend, has highlighted why we campaign to close it down.”
Eiri Ohtani, Director, Right to Remain said: “Migrant communities have endured months of rising hostility from this Government. Whether it’s targeting delivery drivers; enforcing the cruel and unworkable one-in-one-out policy for people seeking safety; gleefully sharing videos of violent workplace raids or stripping away refugee family reunion, none of it has done anything to improve the life of anyone in the UK. All it has done is forced racialised and migrant communities to live in more fear, while emboldening extremists.
“Our day of solidarity shows that it doesn’t have to be this way. We believe migrants in the UK shouldn’t have to live under the constant threat of detention centres like Derwentside. Many of us are already working to build an alternative system that works better for all of us, where people who are trying to build a life here are welcomed with care and compassion.”
This article is based on a media release from No to Hassockfield.
