Gunfire greeted the first arrivals last month at the new asylum centre near the village of Wethersfield in north Essex. A coach brought 46 single adult men to the facility, a former military airbase, on July 12. The base is surrounded by barbed wire and CCTV cameras. Its buildings are stark and sullen.
These first asylum seekers to be barracked there were probably arrivals from Iraq, Afghanistan or Iran. After staying in Kent, this was their first proper vision of England. The ominous sound of guns that filled the air might have resonated with them, although it was coming from the shooting club down the road and directed at clay pigeons.
Local government and the majority of Wethersfield’s 700 residents did not want the men
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