Camp X-Ray reproduced in UK protest

Two handcuffed prisoners in orange overalls kneel in the compound of Camp X-Ray. They can see and hear nothing. One slumps back on his heels as an armed guard keeps watch.

To their left is the interrogation center, behind them a watchtower with machine gun in place. The fences are high and a stiff autumn breeze blows through the barbed wire, fluttering the US flag.

Beyond the compound is a pub, a battered betting shop and a burger van whose owner may be surprised to find that a little corner of Cuba has been recreated on waste land in Hulme, a mile from the center of Manchester, England.

This is performance art with a mission to dump state terrorism on the doorsteps of the inner city. It is meant to shock.

"As art goes, it is pretty straightforward," said its creator, Jai Redman, speaking in his guard's uniform from the other side of locked steel gates.

"There is nothing complicated about it. This is a fully-operational miniature version of the US internment camp at Guantanamo Bay. What is the point of painting a picture of it or showing photographs or a video of it? People have seen those and are immune to them," he said.

"I wanted to create a mirror image of the site and place it in the community which is the home of Ron Fiddler [known as Jamal Udeen], one of the British prisoners in the camp, and see what local reaction would be."

"I am asking people to question whether we are the civilized nation we claim to be or whether we are just barbarians. This camp is a weapon of state terrorism and the British people need to know what it is like. We are asking them if they are happy with it," he said.

The camp, supported by donations and a small grant from the Arts Council, will stay for nine days to make Redman's protest clear.

Nine prisoners, one for each of the incarcerated Britons, have been recruited via the Internet.