this is @bencsmoke, Huck’s contributing editor, here outside the home office where up to 50 people have gathered to stand in solidarity with 5 yemeni asylum seekers currently detained in brooke house detention centre who are on hunger strike.

the five recently arrived in the UK via channel crossing and face imminent deportation to spain under dublin regulation rules. the five, who were fingerprinted in spain, claim they physically and psychologically tortured in the country before being left homeless and destitute.

“we just came via boat, we put our lives on the line... people here [in the detention centres] are dying. there is no healthcare. people are suffering. we are normal people, we just want a normal life” - ammar, speaking from brooke house, one of those currently on hunger strike

the situation is yemen is desperate. the civil war has created a huge humanitarian crisis which has seen millions on the point of starvation. last year, a high court judgement saw the suspension of british arms sales to saudi arabia which were being used by SA in yemen.

weapons sales to saudi arabia have since been resumed by the government.

brooke house, the detention centre which those on hunger strike are being held in is infamous, with a 2018 BBC panorama investigation exposing widespread abuse of detainees by staff employed by G4S (the private security company who run the centre)

those on strike are among 20 yemeni asylum seekers who are due to be deported next week via charter flight. earlier this year FOIs revealed an average of 4.5 security escorts per each person. for more information on that data, check out this thread: https://twitter.com/bencsmoke/status/1228020589232820224

speakers here talk of the devastating effects of the war in yemen+ the continuing tragedy of the humanitarian crisis in the country. a statement from those inside the detention centre is read out saying “we don’t want handouts, we don’t want welfare, we just want to build a life”

a speaker talks of the various human rights obligations laid out in domestic and international law which they say the U.K. government are ignoring.