CHILDREN have been calling out for help over the barbed wire fence of an asylum processing centre at Manston, where campaigners warn of an unfolding “humanitarian catastrophe.”

Migrants’ rights activists who staged a small protest outside the facility on Sunday told the Morning Star they were surprised to see “dozens” of young children, including toddlers, inside the compound.

The group described the site in Kent as an “internment camp,” with 4,000 asylum-seekers held in deteriorating conditions, many sleeping in large communal marquees without proper sleeping facilities. 

Pressure is piling on Home Secretary Suella Braverman to address severe overcrowding at Manston after 1,000 new arrivals were transferred there on Sunday following a petrol bomb attack against another asylum-seeker centre in Dover. 

The prison watchdog has also called on the Home Office to “get a grip” of the situation as it published a damning report into conditions at Manston today. 

Protesters from the Action Against Detention and Deportation coalition said they counted 13 coaches full of people entering the site during the three hours they were outside the facility on Sunday afternoon. Only one coach was seen leaving. 

Joseph Maggs, co-ordinator of Soas Detainee Support, one of the members of the coalition, told the Star that they saw around 20 to 30 children inside the facility during their visit. 

“As soon as the private security saw us they tried to hold people back,” he said.

“But the children ducked beneath them and started running out towards us, up to the fence, that’s when they started shouting out ‘Freedom,’ and ‘We need your help’.”

He said the group used a megaphone to make contact with detainees inside, who shouted back that they were from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Sudan and Pakistan, with one saying he had been held there for 40 days. 

Obtaining information from inside the complex has been difficult as the Home Office has refused to allow charities, lawyers or journalists to enter. Protesters said they wanted to visit Manston to make contact with detainees and shine a light on conditions there.

Describing the conditions, Mr Maggs said: “It was a very cold, hostile and securitised atmosphere.

“Inside looks like a massive internment or even concentration camp where people are not really free to move around.”

In one disturbing scene, protesters said they saw a father and his daughter walking around a “tiny” fenced-off area, describing it as “just like they were animals in a cage.”

“I don’t think any of us have stopped thinking about the cries of freedom and help from the kids especially,” he said. 

“We’re just really worried that if there isn’t a massive change in direction soon that maybe someone will die or get hurt in the centre — through disease or through use of force.”

The campaigner added that the group hopes to organise future protests outside the site to shine a light on the “humanitarian catastrophe” inside Manston. 

Conditions at the centre have come under increased scrutiny after independent border inspector David Neal told MPs he had been “left speechless” by the “dangerous” conditions at the site, where he found families sleeping for weeks on the floor. 

Outbreaks of diphtheria, scabies and norovirus have also been reported, while union the Prison Officers Association has described the site as a “humanitarian crisis on British soil.” 

Now a report by the chief inspector of prisons, following an unannounced inspection of Manston and two other sites in July, reveals that there were problems with overcrowding and prolonged detention at the site well before mid-September, when concerns first started to be raised. 

The disused airfield near Ramsgate was intended to be used as a 24-hour processing facility for small boat arrivals before they were moved on to hotel accommodation or detention centres. 

However, inspectors found that people were being held there for “too long,” including children who had been detained for up to 48 hours, which inspectors described as “unacceptable.” 

Inspectors found “exhausted” detainees sleeping on the floor between rows of seats, and raised concerns that some people were not allowed to have their mobile phones to let their family know they were safe. 

In some parts of the facility, men were “inexplicably” not allowed to close toilet doors fully, it adds. 

Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor noted that recent reports suggest conditions have deteriorated “significantly” since his July visit, adding that he was planning a “swift return” to the site. 

The Home Office disputed claims on Monday that Ms Braverman had failed to sign off on measures that could have eased pressures at Manston. 

It came after several media publications reported that the Home Secretary had refused to book new hostels despite warnings that she would be in breach of her legal duties if she failed to do so. 

The department described the claims as “baseless” and insisted she had taken “urgent decisions to alleviate issues at Manston and source alternative accommodation.”

Ms Braverman told the Commons on Monday evening that she did not block the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers and has “never ignored legal advice” on the issue.

The Home Secretary was jeered by members of the house after describing small boat crossings as “an invasion on our southern coast.”

Labour MP Zarah Sultana described the comments made just one day after an asylum-seeker centre was fire-bombed, as “disgusting.”“

Language like this – portraying migrants as ‘invaders’ – whips-up hate and spreads division,” she Tweeted.

“She's totally unfit to be Home Secretary.”

The Home Office was approached for further comment.