HUNDREDS of people staged a protest outside Manston today to demand the closure of the “illegal and inhumane” detention centre.

Around 200 people braved the pouring rain to gather at the gates of the former RAF base in Kent, where thousands of asylum-seekers, including pregnant women and children, have been detained in harrowing conditions, with reports of outbreaks of scabies and diphtheria. 

Protest organisers, the Action Against Detention and Deportation coalition, said the aim of the demo was also to send a message of solidarity to people inside. 

Catherine Kelly of Soas Detainee Support, a member of the coalition, told the Star: “We called this demo to draw attention to the horrific situation in Manston at the moment and also to show the people who are still detained there that we haven’t forgotten about them. 

“We care about them, they’re not alone [and] to break down the isolation that these camps are intended to create.”

Detainees could be seen waving, jumping and clapping from windows inside a building at the detention facility in response to protesters chanting messages of solidarity over the barbed wire fence.

Another waved what looked like a white bedsheet. 

Protesters used megaphones directed at the site to try to make contact with people inside and banged pots and drums. 

Messages of solidarity to detainees were also sent in a more literal sense, with protesters flying paper planes made out of posters reading: “Hello people held illegally in Manston camp; we want you to know that you are welcome,” over the fence.

Large white tent structures and brick buildings could be seen through the rows of barbed wire fences. 

The bleak site was largely obstructed from view by green and black tarpaulin, however, no-one appeared to be outside the tents. 

Ms Kelly said the group feared that detainees were being prevented from coming out of the tents by security.

Pressure continues to mount on Home Secretary Suella Braverman to fix the situation at Manston amid claims she ignored warnings from government lawyers about unlawfully detaining asylum-seekers there, and a second legal action. 

The Home Office says it has transferred hundreds of people out of the facility in recent days after the population hit 4,000 last week, however, it is understood that there are still thousands of people detained at the site. 

Outside the facility, protesters waved signs reading: “Stop this inhumanity,” “Close Manston,” and “Tories like to incite racism while they wreck the economy.”

Passing cars honked their horns in support of the rally. 

Another organiser, Kay Marsh, described the site as a “shame on our country.” 

“It’s a shame on our government,” she told the Star.

“It’s disgusting, human beings being treated like this. Children essentially being held in cages, in tents.”

Local Green councillor Becki Wing, who was also among the protesters, said: “The government thinks it can just lock people up and treat them like this. It’s not on.”

On Saturday Freedom from Torture hung a plaque at Manston reading: “Centre for Cruelty to Refugees,” in the style of a Home Office sign.

The campaign group staged the stunt in response to police revealing earlier on Saturday that the Dover firebomb attack was motivated by “extreme far-right” ideology. 

A Home Office spokesperson said the asylum system was under “incredible pressure,” adding: “Manston remains resourced and equipped to process migrants securely and we will provide alternative accommodation as soon as possible.”