A group of illegal migrants facing deportation from the UK after arriving via a Channel crossing have gone on hunger strike in a detention centre, people living at the camp have claimed.
There are believed to be 13 people who chosen to go on hunger strike, with five understood to be refusing meals.
According to charities and campaigners supporting the detainees, several illegal migrants are being held in Brook House immigration removal centre near Gatwick Airport.
They have also claimed that some individuals have attempted suicide while being held.
Campaign groups say two deportation flights are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday next week to France, Spain and Germany.
Lawyers are said to be in the process of working with detainees who are due to be on board.
According to the organisation Detained Voices, there was “mounting concern from campaigners about the safety and legitimacy of carrying out deportations at a time when coronavirus rates across Europe are rising”.
A spokesman for charity Detention Action, which is also providing support for those being held, said: “We have heard between 10 and 13 people have been on hunger strike.
“People are getting so desperate in there. One of the men in there told me: ‘No one can take this every day, we need help and for someone to listen to us.’
“Many of them are in a bad way.”
The Home Office has not yet commented.
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Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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