Over 20 women have been on hunger strike at Yarls Wood Immigration Prison near Bedford since Friday 5th February, calling for their immediate release.

Last week 55 detainees began a hunger strike at Harmondsworth Immigration Prison.

There will be a fundraiser for the Yarl's Wood solidarity campaign on Tuesday 23rd March.

Serco guards at Yarl's Wood have tried to suppress the hunger strike from the start. On Monday 8th February the women were locked in a corridor for 8 hours without access to water and toilet facilities.

There have been a number of solidarity demos in support of the hunger strikers, including outside Yarl's Wood on Sunday 21st at the Serco offices on London on Friday 12th and outside Holloway Prison, in support of 4 of the so-called "ringleaders" of the hunger strike who have been incarcerated there, on Wednesday 17th.

Theses hunger strikes are the latest in a long line of resistance within detention centres in the UK and beyond. For example, there have been disturbances at Harmondsworth centre near Heathrow in November 2006, and more recently at Brook House near Gatwick. 10 people are currently on trial in France, accused of arson at Vincennes CRA (detention centre) near Paris in June 2008.

Upcoming events on Yarl's Wood:
Public meeting, 11/03/10 | Fundraiser, 23/03/10

Further links:
Voices from Yarl's Wood |
History of resistance in UK detention centres