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Yarl’s Wood: shut it down

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yarl's wood, shut it down, close all detention centres, set her free, 3 December 2016 demoThe cruelty of Yarl’s Wood has been exposed time after time.

Join the demonstration on 3 December calling for Yarl’s Wood – and all detention centres – to be shut down.

In Yarl’s Wood more than 400 women are indefinitely detained, most of whom have experienced rape, domestic violence, torture, forced marriage, sexual abuse, FGM, or persecution due to sexuality. Or all of those.

Many of them have long and deep connections to the UK, have been here most of their lives, have all their family and friends here.

Many have children; some are pregnant, elderly, disabled, sick and have mental health difficulties.

The cruelty of Yarl’s Wood has been exposed time after time in undercover investigations, government reports, inspectorate reports, and inquiry findings for sexual abuse/harassment by guards towards the women.

In April 2015 an unannounced inspection found that Yarl’s Wood was “rightly a place of national concern”.

In March 2015 undercover footage by Channel 4 News showed the brutal, racist attitude of the guards.

March 2015 also saw the Parliamentary Inquiry into Immigration Detention publish its report that called for a 28-day time limit and judicial oversight of the use of immigration detention.

And the Shaw report, published in January 2016, made 60 recommendations at the heart of which was the view that use of detention should be drastically reduced.

It exposed the extreme vulnerability of many of those detained including victims of sexual assault and gendered violence, pregnant women, victims of torture, the elderly, disabled and those with mental health difficulties.

Movement for Justice have held 9 demonstrations at the notorious Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre.

With every demonstration there is more vibrancy, more anger, more determination – with ex detainees, asylum seekers, feminist and anti-racist activists from around the country demonstrating right at the fences of Yarl’s Wood.

The women behind the fences join the demonstrations from their rooms with handmade banners, signs, ribbons of toilet paper, their arms and legs – defying guards’ threats to express their rage and determination for freedom.

We come together and everyone leaves feeling stronger and more determined.

The Surround Yarl’s Wood demonstrations are palpable, direct and visibly impactful acts of solidarity, and they give the women inside the strength to continue their daily resistance to racism, sexual abuse, deportations, and inadequate mental and physical healthcare.

They have also inspired a whole generation of new young activists across the country to take up the fight against detention and the brutalities and racism of the immigration system and borders.

These demonstrations keep Yarl’s Wood on the national agenda, and they make it clear that there is only one solution – SHUT IT DOWN!

The next demonstration is on 3 December.

Come too.

There are coaches going, and a coach will fetch people from Bedford railway station at 12.15.

And if you can’t come, you can still help.

We need 250 people to sign up #ShutDownYarlsWood Thunderclap: it will ensure that #YarlsWood is trending on Saturday and can’t be ignored! #ENDdetention #SetHerFree

To join in, all you need to do is follow this link and click ‘support with – Twitter, Facebook or/and Tumblr’ you then log in and give permission to Thunderclap to post on your behalf.

Doing that means that at 1.30pm on Saturday everyone who signed up will have an automatic Tweet/post go out about #YarlsWood and we get it trending!

And money is always helpful: click here to see about that…

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