POLICE were forced to intervene as protesters tried to put up an eight feet high plastic fence outside the Cotswolds home of Blackburn MP and Home Secretary Jack Straw.

About 50 protesters, who were hoping to highlight the plight of immigrants kept in the Campsfield Detention Centre in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, targeted Mr Straw's cottage at the weekend.

The majority of the protesters had to make do with voicing their anxieties inside the village pub after officers, including four on horseback, only allowed three protesters to the door of Mr Straw's rural retreat.

They went to the front door of the thatched house to deliver a letter to Mr Straw, who was not at home. It included a petition protesting at the treatment of illegal immigrants who arrive at British ports and airports.

One of the three to go to the house with the head of Oxford Trades Union Council, Mr Bill MacKeith, was Teresa Hayter who said: "We tried to walk up to the house carrying the fence with idea of putting it up as a form of protest to see how he would like to be behind a fence with barbed wire on the top.

"We were about 15 yards away from his house. The police were there in force to stop us but we made our point strongly."

One eyewitness told the Citizen: "They were quite angry and obviously feel strongly about what is going on inside the detention centre."

A Home Office spokesman said: "We only detain asylum seekers if it is absolutely necessary and less than two per cent of asylum seekers are detained at any one time."

Earlier this year a permanent police post was installed at the house as security measures for the new Home Secretary were tightened.

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