'Armed' detainees cause disturbance at UK immigration centre

Armed detainees caused a disturbance at a London immigration centre near Heathrow airport on Friday evening during a power outage.

The Home Office said Saturday that people were being moved to other centres while engineers fixed the power and repaired the damage at the Harmondsworth detention centre.

"Thankfully no staff working or individuals detained there were hurt, despite clear evidence of unacceptable levels of violence and disorder," Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said.

"The perpetrators of this disturbance will be held to account and, where appropriate, removed from the country as swiftly as is practicable," he added.

The British government is grappling with how to deal with a record number of migrants crossing the Channel from northern Europe in small boats.

Officers from London's Metropolitan Police attended the incident at 7:45 pm on Friday and were still on the scene on Saturday, the force said.

The UK government has been on the defensive this week after reports said some 4,000 people were being held at the Manston reception facility, meant to hold just 1,600, near Dover on the south coast.

Firebombs were also thrown last Sunday at another reception facility in Dover by a man who was later found dead.

The PA news agency said that during Friday's incident at the centre near Heathrow, "a group of detainees left their rooms and went out into the courtyard area armed with various weaponry".

Images showed specialist officers arriving with riot gear.

Since the beginning of the year, an unprecedented 38,000 people have crossed the Channel into Britain.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman earlier this week caused outrage -- and earned a rebuke from the new UN rights chief -- for describing the arrivals as an "invasion".

Braverman has also been criticised for allegedly refusing to find accommodation for claimants, many of whom have been kept for weeks in temporary holding centres.