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Essex: Migrants protest at Wethersfield over conditions

Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC Migrants outside MDP WethersfieldDawid Wojtowicz/BBC
Seven men told the BBC they had been - or were still - on hunger strike

Asylum seekers have staged a protest outside their accommodation over complaints about living conditions.

Migrants have been at former air base MDP Wethersfield in Essex since July and the government plans to house up to 1,700 adult males there.

Some people blocked vehicles from accessing the site and seven men told the BBC they had been on hunger strike.

The Home Office said food met NHS standards and claimed any reports of a hunger strike were "untrue".

Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC Migrants outside MDP WethersfieldDawid Wojtowicz/BBC
Braintree District Council said, as of August, there were 94 people living on site
Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC Migrants outside MDP WethersfieldDawid Wojtowicz/BBC
Some men sat in the road and blocked some vehicles from accessing the site

Iranian national Abdollah, who only provided his first name and said he feared he would be persecuted if returned home, arrived at Wethersfield on 24 August and said it was like living in a "jail".

"In my room I have a lot of insects, the radiator is not working, there is no internet, and the food sometimes is uncooked and it's spicy food," he said.

"Every day my mental health is getting worse and worse."

He said he wanted accommodation in a city and feared he could be at Wethersfield - a rural location - for more than nine months.

Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC Migrants outside MDP WethersfieldDawid Wojtowicz/BBC
Braintree District Council said, as of August, there were 94 people living on site

Airoz said he had been on hunger strike for three days and refused to eat until he was transferred elsewhere.

The Iranian Kurd - whose account was translated into English by a fellow migrant - also compared the conditions to being in a prison.

Braintree District Council, the local authority, said that as of the end of August, 94 people were living on the site.

The council has contested the use of the former RAF station in the High Court and Court of Appeal, and lost both cases.

However, a two-day judicial review is scheduled for 31 October.

The government is trying to stop using hotels for housing migrants and instead use barges and former military sites.

It said there were more than 50,000 asylum seekers in hotels in the UK costing taxpayers £8.2m per day.

A Home Office spokesperson said food at Wethersfield met NHS Eatwell standards and that asylum seekers had access to health and social care services.

"Reports of asylum seekers on hunger strike at Wethersfield are completely untrue," added the spokesperson.

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