Tearful Francine Arrestede stares out in despair at the country which does not seem to care.

Almost two weeks after landing in Britain, Francine and 30 other Indian Ocean islanders exiled when their homeland was turned into a US military base, are sleeping rough on the floor at Gatwick airport.

Yesterday, a contingent of ten from the island paradise of Diego Garcia - who all have British passports - descended on council offices in Crawley begging for help.

None was offered.

Instead, Centenary House, a social services office for West Sussex County Council, was sealed off to the public and the police were called.

The group was locked in the reception area until a squad car containing four officers arrived.

The islanders staged a peaceful 90-minute sit-in before returning to their makeshift home in the airport's North Terminal just before 4pm.

Most were in tears.

Francine is the only one of the 30 who speaks fluent English because the rest speak Creole - a patois based on French.

There are no interpreters at the Crawley office.

Francine said: "We intended to stage a sit-in until someone helped us.

"But after discussions we returned to the airport. We are just looking for help."

A council spokesman said: "We have made our standpoint clear. Legally these people are not our responsibility.

"We do not want to distress the situation further but they could not remain on council property."

Crawley MP Laura Moffatt has backed the social services.

She said there was little anyone could do for the islanders because they were not refugees or asylum-seekers.

The group has been camping at Gatwick for the past 12 days and are not being cared for locally because they arrived in the UK at Heathrow, which is not the responsibility of the Sussex authorities.

They are being referred to Hillingdon Council in London and negotiations are under way to see what can be done.

A Hillingdon spokesman said: "It is too early yet to say whether we can help them but we are looking into the matter."