Support the Brook House Blockaders!

On the 9th of November 2021, a group of protestors took direct action to delay a charter flight that had been due to deport up to fifty people to Jamaica. Protestors from the group Stop Deportations locked themselves to metal pipes and blockaded the exit to Brook House, a detention centre that is notorious for its appalling conditions, including abuse of detainees by Serco staff and use of solitary confinement, forcing some people to go on hunger strike.

After several hours lying in the road, the protestors were arrested and held in police custody overnight, for 22 hours. By blocking the entrance to Brook House, the protestors were able to delay the deportation vans, so that people from Brook House who were set to be deported could not be taken to Birmingham Airport in time for the flight. According to one report, “the delay to the van’s journey bought those on board with pending cases valuable minutes”, and a mixture of media attention, urgent legal challenges and direct action meant that all but four people were removed from the flight.

UPDATE: As a result of this action, three protestors are now facing charges of causing a public nuisance and aggravated trespass. They will be tried by a jury at Lewes Crown Court on 30th May 2023 during a seven-day trial.

This charter flight is part of a long tradition of the Home Office targeting Black communities in the UK. People from Jamaica, Ghana and Nigeria are deported at higher rates than other nationalities, in spite of the Home Office’s claims that they would “right the wrongs” of Windrush. A spokesperson for Stop Deportations said at the time: “We reject the legitimacy of the entire deportation regime. It is premised on racist notions of Black, Brown and Racialised people.”

More recently, Stop Deportations said: "Blocking the road from Brook House prevented people being violently and cruelly taken away from their families and loved ones. Many of those who were due to be deported to Jamaica arrived in the UK as children and have family, including children, some had Windrush connections and some are potential trafficking survivors. They did not receive proper legal advice or time to challenge their deportation, so direct action was necessary to prevent it."

The Brook House Blockaders put their bodies on the line to oppose the UK’s racist and violent border regime. Now they need our support. Please help us raise the cost of their legal fees and share this fundraiser widely. Direct action is a powerful tactic and it’s important that we show up for each other after actions like this one.

Your donations will go towards:

In the event that there are any excess funds leftover, this will be split between migrant solidarity and anti-deportation groups, including SOAS Detainee Support, Stop Deportations, Anti-Raids and Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants.

Solidarity & Rage,

SOAS Detainee Support