Protests and hunger strikes among asylum seekers held in detention centres in preparation for deportation to Rwanda are increasing, the Guardian has learned.

Approximately 55 detainees, including Afghans, Iranians and Kurds, are believed to have staged a 10-hour peaceful protest in the exercise yard at Brook House immigration removal centre, near Gatwick airport, from 6pm on Tuesday until 4am on Wednesday.

The Home Office contractor at the centre, Serco, and Home Office sources, confirmed the protest.

An Afghan asylum seeker involved in the protest told the Guardian the detainees refused to go back to their cells, fearful of being sent to Rwanda and not understanding why the Home Office had targeted them for forced removal to the east African country.

“Everyone here who has received notices for Rwanda is very scared,” the man said. “We keep asking the Home Office why they are sending us to Rwanda but we get no answers.

“The Home Office tell us to speak to our solicitors or to Home Office caseworkers but we are not getting any answers. We are being pushed from person to person like a football. We staged the protest because we are frightened about our situation and want some answers from the Home Office.”

He said he estimated that about 30% of those protesting were Afghans. “Why is the Home Office sending Afghans to Rwanda? Many of us helped the British when they were in Afghanistan. We don’t understand why this is happening to us.”

The man said that everyone locked up was feeling very stressed and that many could not eat or sleep.

“I have been here for eight days now and I’m not getting help from the doctors or the staff. Every few minutes I hear the sound of planes flying in and out of Gatwick and I think to myself: ‘Tomorrow the Home Office might put me on one of those planes to send me to Rwanda.’”

NGOs and lawyers working to support Rwanda detainees said they had received reports that dozens in Colnbrook immigration removal centre, near Heathrow, had gone on hunger strike.

Along with Afghans, Iranians and Kurds, other nationalities known to have been detained for removal to Rwanda include Syrians, Eritreans, Egyptians, Sudanese, Turks, and Kuwaiti Bidoons.

Anna Pincus, the director of Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group, said of the situation in Brook House: “We are extremely concerned for the wellbeing of people now held in detention with the threat of removal to Rwanda. They are experiencing high levels of desperation and anxiety in a system that has already been proven to be struggling. We will continue to visit and support people but have huge concerns for their wellbeing.”

A spokesperson for Serco, which has the Home Office contract to manage Brook House, said: “There was a non-violent protest in Brook House immigration removal centre on Tuesday night. It was peacefully resolved, nobody was hurt and the centre is operating normally.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The first illegal migrants set to be removed to Rwanda have now been detained by highly trained teams, following a series of nationwide operations. We will get flights off the ground to Rwanda in the next eight to 10 weeks, creating the deterrent effect to help break up the people-smuggling business model and stop the boats.”