Blaze at asylum seekers’ barracks
ASYLUM seekers housed at a former military barracks set fire to part of the base yesterday during a ‘full-on riot’.
Home Secretary Priti Patel branded the scenes ‘deeply offensive’ after staff were forced into a room as a 100-strong group of male rioters trashed parts of the facility and smashed windows.
Fire and smoke could be seen billowing into the sky over the Napier barracks in Folkestone, kent, yesterday afternoon.
miss Patel said the ‘destruction’ at the barracks was ‘not only appalling but deeply offensive to the taxpayers of this country’. The riot is believed to have broken out after the asylum seekers were told they would not be transferred out of the barracks amid a Covid outbreak.
Staff in the facility were intimidated and chased by the asylum seekers, who forced them into a room, before breaking windows, sources said. The trapped workers, who are employed by a
Home Office contractor, were freed after security guards arrived at the scene.
Sources added that asylum seekers then set fire to one of the house blocks in the barracks.
miss Patel condemned the violence last night, saying it was ‘an insult’ to claim the barracks, which previously housed armed Forces personnel, provided substandard accommodation for asylum seekers.
She added: ‘This type of action will not be tolerated and the Home Office will support the police to take robust action against those vandalising property, threatening staff and putting lives at risk. I am fixing our broken asylum system, and will be bringing forward legislation this year to deliver on that commitment.’
The blaze came on the day residents were reportedly told by the Home Office that no more people would be moved from the controversial barracks.
One asylum seeker said: ‘We (were told we) are going to stay at this camp until we have a decision about our (asylum) claims and we should be isolated for ten days in our rooms.’
Police are investigating possible criminal offences during the riot, including arson.