Approximately 40 asylum seekers held at the detention centre in Dungavel, Lanarkshire, have started a hunger strike in protest at the length of time taken to process their applications for asylum.
Dungavel became controversial when it was converted from a prison into a detention centre for 150 asylum seekers in September last year.
A young man attempted suicide last month by stabbing himself in the stomach, and two weeks ago the centre was the focus of demonstrations by a range of organisations campaigning against the "jailing" of asylum seekers who had not committed a crime.
The hunger strikers are based in the block which houses single men. They say they are campaigning against the conditions in Dungavel, including the lack of food, as well as the length their applications for asylum are taking.
A home office spokesperson acknowledged that a number of people in Dungavel had started a hunger strike protest.
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