EXTRA police and firefighters are still being drafted in at Campsfield House Detention Centre, in Kidlington to tackle on on-going disturbance.

Shortly after 6.20am, 35 firefighters were called to the immigration centre in Langford Lane, together with police and paramedics.

It is understood that detainees threatened to set fire to the premises after on detainee was removed by officials during the early hours so that he could be deported.

The emergency services were joined throughout the morning by Home Office prison officers carrying riot shields and, shortly before 11.30am, two more fire engines and one fire service vehicle carrying a skylift were called to the centre. They were accompanied by three police vans and another vehicle containing a dog-handlers unit.

John Nixon, from Oxfordshire Fire Service, said: "There is no fire at the moment but there is an ongoing incident. This is not a false alarm."

Residents who live in Evenlode Crescent near the centre say they would like the unit to be closed.

One woman, who asked not to be named, said: "I have lived here for ten years and until now this place never bothered me. But there have been repeated incidents this year and a lot of my neighbours have told me they want Campsfield to be closed."

Bob Hughes, a spokesman for the campaign to close Campsfield, said: "This place is an affront to British decency and British values and all places like it should be closed."

Officers were alerted to problems breaking out at 6.20am and have set up a cordon around the centre in Langford Lane.

This morning there were claims the disturbance was started when staff went in to remove a man from his room.

Inmates became angry at his treatment and Bob Hughes, of the group Campaign to Close Campsfield, said CCTV cameras and lights had been broken.

Inmates were now on hunger strike, he added.

Mr Hughes said: "A detainee, Kevin, has called to say that Blue Wing is now devastated: water everywhere, lights and CCTV smashed, guards nowhere in sight, and blue lights either of emergency services or riot squads arriving outside the centre.

"He heard the incident that triggered the disturbance. He says that guards entered the wing earlier this morning and, unusually, locked all the cell doors before entering that of the man they removed - an African."

He said he had spoken to Mr Harris Dukai, one of the two room mates of the man whose removal this morning triggered today's events.

"The man was Benin-born Mr Davis Osagie, who had been working as an immigration officer at Edinburgh Airport before a colleague it is presumed informed on him for having false papers himself.

"Mr Dukai says that ten officers in full riot gear entered the cell with more outside at just after 5.20 this morning.

"Some of the officers used their shields to confine Mr Dukai and his other room mate - Augustine Ekhator - to their beds while the other officers dealt with Mr Osagie.

"During our conversation some detainees were attempting to start fires - unsuccessfully, I assume, but the place was now full of smoke as well as water.

"Mr Dukai told me that detainees are now on hunger strike."

Police have only said so far there was an "ongoing incident".

At the centre there are several fire engines, a heavy police presence, what appear to be prison-style riot officers in black uniforms and shields and paramedics.

Some staff from the centre are reportedly being turned away from work this morning.

In July, 26 inmates escaped from the facility.

Last month, detainees warned fresh trouble was brewing because of the atmosphere inside Campsfield.

Detainees inside Campsfield House later told of the scale of the disturbance.

One 27-year-old detainee said: "Everyone went mad and broke everything up. They broke everything - lights, cameras, toilets, showers."

Another detainee, who shares a room with David Osagie, the detainee removed this morning which led to the outbreak of violence, said the rioting last for about 20 minutes but added the atmosphere still wasn't calm.

He said: "He was on the top bunk of the bed and they dragged him down.

"About five officers were holding us down, preventing us from interfering.

"They just came running in like in the movies.

"I was scared because I did not know what was going on. He was screaming.

"After they took him away forcefully everyone was angry.

"It just escalated from there. There was a confrontation with the officers. There was just anger.

"It's not calm now. There is no way it can be calm. It's not nice. I don't think it will be calm now because people are still angry.

"There are no lights, the toilets have been flooded and the cameras have been broken." A 39-year-old fellow detainee added: "Early this morning somebody was shouting and screaming.

"This man was being dragged kicking and beating. There is blood all over the floor. People are trying to pull this place down.

"There's no lighting, there's flooding - that's the reaction to what happened this morning.

"Everybody is angry. It has not stopped. For every action there is a reaction. I think almost everybody was involved.

"There was fire. They were setting fire to the blankets. They smashed the cameras. They turned the place upside down."

Police spokesman Victoria Bartlett said: "We were called to Campsfield House near Kidlington at 6.20am today after reports of a disturbance inside.

"Officers are currently on the scene and we are assisting staff from Campsfield House in securing the perimeter of the building.