Nearly 200 people gathered Saturday 21st March in Bedford town centre, than heading to Yarl's Wood immigration prison, demanding its closure. Yarl's Wood has 405 capacity and holds single women and families with children. The building of a new immigration prison, next to Yarl's Wood, has just been approved, to hold 500 single men.

There were many asylum seekers and ex-detainees in the protest, alongside anti-racist groups, students and campaigners. Most people came from London, but there were Bedford based campaigners and people from Birmingham, South Wales, Leicester, Oxford, Brighton...
There were also lots of police to cordon the protest.

see also: Yarl's Wood 2009

report from the picket in London, November 28th: Amey offices entered as campaign for sacked colombian cleaners grows

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public talk: Precarious Work and the Struggle for Migrant Workers' Rights | Report from the Talk

For the past month four men have been on trial at Southwark Crown Court for alleged offences during disturbances at Harmondsworth immigration detention centre in November 2006. The Support the Harmondsworth 4 Campaign is holding a demo this Friday outside the offices of Sodexho, whose subsidiary Kalyx runs Harmondsworth.

Friday 22 February 2008, 4:00 - 6:00pm
Sodexho, 25 Chapel Street, London NW1 5DH
(nearest tube: Edgware Road)

for more on the Harmondsworth 4, see