THE troubled Harmondsworth Detention Centre continues to be a source of controversy as 28 Sri Lankans remain on hunger strike.

Twenty Tamil detainees signed a letter to the centre's management, pledging to shun food and water until the "unlawful and inhuman removal of Sri Lankan asylum seekers" had stopped.

More men were already on hunger strike, and others have joined their cause.

The men, at Harmondsworth and three other centres, are seeking refuge in Britain because they fear for their safety as ethnic minorities in their own country.

However, the Home Office has begun deporting the detainees back to Sri Lanka.

Some of the detainees have already been deported; others have been put on planes but removed just before take-off.

One hunger striker tried to commit suicide and has been moved to a psychiatric unit.

One of the men on hunger strike, who was temporarily released after fainting repeatedly, said: "I had no choice but to go on hunger strike.

"I will die either way, if I am sent back to Sri Lanka or if on hunger strike here."

The men claim that in Sri Lanka, vicious gangs drive round in white vans, on the orders of the government, and kill or kidnap Tamils indiscriminately.

One of the men on the hunger strike said: "Everyone knows what happens when you are taken by the white van people'.

"They take you away and you lose all contact with people.

"They take people off the streets and kill them, or ransom them for an awful lot of money."

This current trouble is the latest in a long line of problems to engulf the beleaguered Harmondsworth Centre.

Legal proceedings have just begun on behalf on three men who claim they were mistreated in November 2006, during riots and protests by detainees at the centre.

Tamil Lawyers' Association has urged the British authorities to suspend deportation to Sri Lanka until violence and human rights abuses stop.

A spokesman for the Home Office said: "There have been some passive protests by detainees against enforced removal to Sri Lanka.

"A border and control agency is actively engaging with detainees to discuss their concerns.

"The situation remains calm."

The deportation process continues, and the men remain on hunger strike.