GTA Ireland – Colostomy Wars

Sacre Blue! says:

Dutch Airport Fire Kills 11 Immigrants

A fire roared through a prison complex at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Thursday, killing 11 illegal immigrants awaiting deportation and injuring 15 other people. Officials declined to comment on reports that the cells were unsafe. Several members of the Dutch parliament called for an independent investigation into whether the prison complex complied with safety standards. The prison block on the east side of Europe’s fourth-largest airport is surrounded by a 10-foot fence and barbed wire. Set up in 2002, it is used to detain people who arrive by plane and have been refused entry to the Netherlands, including drug smugglers and failed asylum seekers. An unknown number of detainees escaped during the blaze, but three were captured. A prisoner told the Dutch television station NOS that guards initially did not take prisoners’ warnings of a fire seriously and told them nothing was wrong. “They didn’t open the door. They kept us locked up. Our throats started hurting. We were kicking and screaming,” said the detainee, who was not identified. About 350 prisoners were being held in the complex when the fire broke out. Some 43 were in the wing that caught fire.

The Netherlands, which has adopted one of the toughest immigration policies in Europe, is in the process of deporting some 26,000 asylum seekers who have been denied Dutch residency. Rights groups have criticized the policy, saying people have been deported to countries where they could face persecution or abuse. Prison cell capacity was greatly expanded in 2002.