Protests over Yarl's Wood jobs

Campaigners string baby clothes across the entrance to the centre

People attending job interviews at a asylum seekers' detention centre have been met by protesters, who say the facility will not be a safe place for staff or refugees.

The £80m Yarl's Wood centre near Bedford, designed to hold 900 asylum seekers, was badly damaged by fire during a riot in February 2002.

The centre should re-open in September and the security firm Group 4 is recruiting warders.

Campaigners against Yarl's Wood re-opening believe babies as young as five weeks will be held there, and that prospective staff do not know what their jobs would involve.

Gordon White, who took part in Monday's protest, said: "We don't believe this is a safe or a fit place - either for employees or for refugees and asylum seekers."

Group 4's job advert maintains Yarl's Wood is "a safe environment for people who are being detained - no experience is necessary as excellent training will be provided".

But campaigners said last year's fire, which led to a £38m bill for damage, shows Group 4 to be negligent and incompetent.

Last year's fire started during a riot at the centre

Group 4 would not comment on the protests.

Conservative Bedfordshire North East MP Alistair Burt told BBC Look East he is not surprised at this level of criticism.

"We have had various different dates for the re-opening of Yarl's Wood - information has not been easy to come by; information has been changed.

"So people continue their scepticism about the place, and will do, until we get a publication of the inquiry which was launched by the Home Office last year."

Release of the inquiry has been delayed by the criminal trials of 10 men accused of rioting when the centre was damaged.