Here's a Sun headline from today: 'Illegals get boot... VIP style'. And we are forced to ask the Sun "How Stupid Can You Get?"
"Illegals immigrants (sic) are getting the VIP treatment when booted out of Britain - with personal security escorts costing almost £500 each," the article by Tom Wells claims. "Shock figures obtained by The Sun show the Government spent £10.43 million to "forcibly" remove 21,360 illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers (sic) in 2008. That works out at £488 per person - about the same as the daily rate for VIP protection by a professional bodyguard."
If you think being locked up in an immigration prison for weeks, if not months, on end, with little idea of when or if you are going to be deported or grudgingly given temporary leave to remain in the country. Maybe you have family here and you do not know what has happened to them either. Maybe you were a victim of torture or rape in the country you came from or maybe members of your family were killed, forcing you to flee for your life. You live in limbo until the day the 2 goons in uniform come to your do and you are forcibly chained between them and dragged off to a waiting coach. Or maybe you were given the courtesy of a removal notice but you still weren't told exactly what day the inevitable would happen. Now you don't have any idea where you are going, you haven't been able to say goodbye to the friends you've made here or possibly eve grab the few meagre possessions you leave. If you resist, you are brutalised and abused, if you don't resist you might still end up brutalised and abused. If you are luck you are not stuck chained between two overtly racist thugs for the entire duration of the flight, but don't hold your breath. If you think any of that is getting VIP treatment, then you are in serious need of psychiatric help.
Phil Woolas is quoted in the article as saying: "Using trained escorts is crucial if we are going to remove foreign criminals or disruptive individuals. Without them we would not have removed thousands of lawbreakers last year." Except that you don't have to be a 'disruptive individual' to end up shackled between two boneheads, it appears to be standard policy for anyone not acquiescing in the abrogation of their human right to live where they please. And the only reason they are now 'lawbreakers' is because Nu Labour like every government since the 1900's* has bowed to racist agitation and brought in successively more restrictive immigration policies.
Where the article does get it right however is pointing up the ludicrous amounts of money that goes to the outsourcing firms like G4S and Serco, companies that have made billions from the misery of others since they became involved in the immigration detention industry, running this country's immigration detention infrastructure.
* There were no immigration controls in the UK until the introduction of the 1905 Aliens Act, passed as a direct result of proto-fascist agitation from the British Brothers League, who claimed that they didn't want the UK to become "the dumping ground for the scum of Europe". Sounds just like something out of a BNP leaflet or a Sun article.
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Autonomous School Zurich Forced To Close
We have just learnt that the autonomously run school for undocumented migrants in Switzerland that we highlighted last October has been raided by police and destroyed. Against a backdrop of increased anti-foreigner sentiment, that included the recently banning of the building of minarets on new mosques and the admission by the Swiss government that its 'non-admissions' policy had failed, it was only a matter of time before this open sign of defiance was closed down.
The Autonomous School Zurich (ASZ) opened last April, when activists squatted an empty building at the Allenmoos School on the outskirts of Zurich. Operating according self-organising principles, courses were open to all to put on and attend and included everything from language lessons to open-source computer courses and classes in solar energy fundamentals. The main group involved in the project was 'Education for All', a grass-roots organisation set up by migrants and anti-racist activists to support undocumented migrants and campaign against the exclusion and widespread discrimination against migrants in Switzerland.
Using the excuse of dangerous electrical installations at the school, riot police raided the building on 7 January, driving off the occupants an pepper spraying supporters who had assembled to defend the school. The cops them proceeded to trash the building, confiscation teaching materials and equipment and removing windows, rendering the building uninhabitable.
Supporters of the school had expected the city council to continue its policy of tollerance towards the project until at least the summer, when a new project was due to replace it. However they appear to be victims of the Swiss Federal Office for Migration's crackdown on migrants as their attempts to "facilitate" the registration of migrants in the country have been an abject failure with only an overall increase in registrations of 3% over the last 3 years. The Federal Office now plans to consider asylum claims even if the applicant doesn't present proper identity papers and to cut appeal time for negative decisions by half to 15 days. Inevitably this will have the opposite effect to that intended and even more migranmts will be forced underground.
The Autonomous School Zurich (ASZ) opened last April, when activists squatted an empty building at the Allenmoos School on the outskirts of Zurich. Operating according self-organising principles, courses were open to all to put on and attend and included everything from language lessons to open-source computer courses and classes in solar energy fundamentals. The main group involved in the project was 'Education for All', a grass-roots organisation set up by migrants and anti-racist activists to support undocumented migrants and campaign against the exclusion and widespread discrimination against migrants in Switzerland.
Using the excuse of dangerous electrical installations at the school, riot police raided the building on 7 January, driving off the occupants an pepper spraying supporters who had assembled to defend the school. The cops them proceeded to trash the building, confiscation teaching materials and equipment and removing windows, rendering the building uninhabitable.
Supporters of the school had expected the city council to continue its policy of tollerance towards the project until at least the summer, when a new project was due to replace it. However they appear to be victims of the Swiss Federal Office for Migration's crackdown on migrants as their attempts to "facilitate" the registration of migrants in the country have been an abject failure with only an overall increase in registrations of 3% over the last 3 years. The Federal Office now plans to consider asylum claims even if the applicant doesn't present proper identity papers and to cut appeal time for negative decisions by half to 15 days. Inevitably this will have the opposite effect to that intended and even more migranmts will be forced underground.
Mercure Planning Application Refused
***PRESS RELEASE: IMMIGRATION CENTRE PLANNING PERMISSION REFUSED***
Last night Crawley Borough Council Development Control Committee rejected by 14 votes to 1 the planning application by Arora International Hotels Ltd. for permission to convert the 254-bed Mercure Hotel in Povey Cross Road, Crawley into an immigration detention centre.
During the meeting, apart from the council planning officers, only two people spoke in favour of the application - the applicant himself, Tim Jurdon, Head of Planning Arora Management Services Ltd., and Surinder Arora, sole owner of the Arora hotels chain. Those that spoke against it included a representatives of 11 of the 12 nearest residential houses to the hotel, a neighbouring hotel, a Reigate and Banstead councillor and Bill MacKeith representing the Close Campsfield campaign and SERTUC.
Members of the planning committee itself spoke out almost universally against their own planning officers recommendations, placing special focus on their interpretation and claimed misrepresentation of the wording of GAT4 in the Crawley Borough Local Plan 2000. This states, "planning permission will not be granted within the airport boundary which is not CLEARLY required for operational, functional, safety or security reasons." [our emphasis - see footnote [4] for explanation]
Unfortunately, the planning meeting also revealed the general level of ignorance of the role and function of Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs), even amongst supposedly informed elected representatives. The function of IRCs is not solely, or even largely, that of holding of so-called 'failed' asylum seekers prior to removal, it is the 'administrative detention' of people within the asylum process and those prior to removal. Each year hundreds of people pass through IRCs that are eventually granted leave to remain in the UK.
Additionally, nothing was made of the objection by Sussex Police, which stated that only 13% of detainee removals from Tinsley and Brook Houses, the 2 existing Crawley detention centres, had been via Gatwick Airport itself. As Tinsley and Brook Houses only represent approximately 18% of the UK detention estate, Gatwick can hardly be considered an immigration removal hub and any additional development would have required significant additional vehicle movements from Crawley to Stanstead and Heathrow, the 2 main airports used for deportation flights, contrary to local authority sustainability commitments.
Notes for editors:
[1] The planning application and relevant details can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/AroraApp
[2] Established in 1999, Arora International Hotels is one of the UK's fastest growing privately owned hotel companies, with six luxury hotels in and around Heathrow and Gatwick airports and one in Manchester city centre. For details of the Mercure, see: http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-7059-mercure-london-gatwick-airport/index.shtml
[3] For more background on the application, see: http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3432
[4] As represented in point 4.6 of the report [No. RS. 13] drawn up for the Development Control Meeting, the councils planning officers appeared to have miss represented the text of the Crawley Borough Local Plan 2000 by stating: "Policy GAT4 states that planning permission will not be granted within the airport boundary which is not required for operational, functional, safety or security reasons", leaving out the word 'clearly'.
[5] No Borders Brighton had lobbied all 37 Crawley councillors with a signed statement in opposition to the development, based on the health effects on detainee children, that was endorsed by Dr Caroline Lucas Green Party MEP for SE England, Ben Duncan Brighton and Hove City Councillor and a Green Party parliamentary candidate & the South East Region TUC amongst others. See: http://nobordersbrighton.blogspot.com/2010/01/statement-in-opposition-to-arora.html
Last night Crawley Borough Council Development Control Committee rejected by 14 votes to 1 the planning application by Arora International Hotels Ltd. for permission to convert the 254-bed Mercure Hotel in Povey Cross Road, Crawley into an immigration detention centre.
During the meeting, apart from the council planning officers, only two people spoke in favour of the application - the applicant himself, Tim Jurdon, Head of Planning Arora Management Services Ltd., and Surinder Arora, sole owner of the Arora hotels chain. Those that spoke against it included a representatives of 11 of the 12 nearest residential houses to the hotel, a neighbouring hotel, a Reigate and Banstead councillor and Bill MacKeith representing the Close Campsfield campaign and SERTUC.
Members of the planning committee itself spoke out almost universally against their own planning officers recommendations, placing special focus on their interpretation and claimed misrepresentation of the wording of GAT4 in the Crawley Borough Local Plan 2000. This states, "planning permission will not be granted within the airport boundary which is not CLEARLY required for operational, functional, safety or security reasons." [our emphasis - see footnote [4] for explanation]
Unfortunately, the planning meeting also revealed the general level of ignorance of the role and function of Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs), even amongst supposedly informed elected representatives. The function of IRCs is not solely, or even largely, that of holding of so-called 'failed' asylum seekers prior to removal, it is the 'administrative detention' of people within the asylum process and those prior to removal. Each year hundreds of people pass through IRCs that are eventually granted leave to remain in the UK.
Additionally, nothing was made of the objection by Sussex Police, which stated that only 13% of detainee removals from Tinsley and Brook Houses, the 2 existing Crawley detention centres, had been via Gatwick Airport itself. As Tinsley and Brook Houses only represent approximately 18% of the UK detention estate, Gatwick can hardly be considered an immigration removal hub and any additional development would have required significant additional vehicle movements from Crawley to Stanstead and Heathrow, the 2 main airports used for deportation flights, contrary to local authority sustainability commitments.
Notes for editors:
[1] The planning application and relevant details can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/AroraApp
[2] Established in 1999, Arora International Hotels is one of the UK's fastest growing privately owned hotel companies, with six luxury hotels in and around Heathrow and Gatwick airports and one in Manchester city centre. For details of the Mercure, see: http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-7059-mercure-london-gatwick-airport/index.shtml
[3] For more background on the application, see: http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3432
[4] As represented in point 4.6 of the report [No. RS. 13] drawn up for the Development Control Meeting, the councils planning officers appeared to have miss represented the text of the Crawley Borough Local Plan 2000 by stating: "Policy GAT4 states that planning permission will not be granted within the airport boundary which is not required for operational, functional, safety or security reasons", leaving out the word 'clearly'.
[5] No Borders Brighton had lobbied all 37 Crawley councillors with a signed statement in opposition to the development, based on the health effects on detainee children, that was endorsed by Dr Caroline Lucas Green Party MEP for SE England, Ben Duncan Brighton and Hove City Councillor and a Green Party parliamentary candidate & the South East Region TUC amongst others. See: http://nobordersbrighton.blogspot.com/2010/01/statement-in-opposition-to-arora.html
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Life Is Too Short To Be Controlled II
Reports of the London No Borders' organised 'Life Is Too Short To Be Controlled' demonstration in London yesterday can be seen at:
http://london.indymedia.org/articles/4196
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/01/445104.html
Also a video of the event at:
http://www.blip.tv/file/3136790
http://london.indymedia.org/articles/4196
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/01/445104.html
Also a video of the event at:
http://www.blip.tv/file/3136790
Haitian Refugges To Be Held At Guantanamo Bay
A large tented city, initially capable of holding 1000 people, has been readied at Guantanamo Bay to hold any Haitian refugees unlucky enough to get caught fleeing their devastated country for American. Already on the US mainland the Operation Vigilant Sentry task force has swung into operation, clearing detention camps to hold any who make it there.
Now Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, which is responsible for planning for any kind of Caribbean mass immigration according to a US military spokeswoman, are readying the notorious camp for a new role: immigration detention centre. "There's no indication of any mass migration from Haiti," Maj. Diana Haynie said. "We have not been told to conduct migrant operations." But the base is getting ready "as a prudent measure," since "it takes some time to set things up."
This is all very timely as Friday was the deadline impossed by Obama for closing the camp and the PR engendered by its 'humanitarian' role takes a bit of the heat off of Obama's administration and it's a win-win situation for the military: "The ability to conduct real-world humanitarian assistance and disaster relief ... that's more exhilarating at the moment then walking the block in the detention camp, not to say that walking the block is not an extremely important mission for the United States but probably not as gratifying as saving someone's life." - Rear Adm. Thomas Copeman, Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay commander.
We can only hope that the Haitians are not forced to wear orange jumpsuits and are moved around in shackles with hoods on little wheeled trolleys.
Now Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, which is responsible for planning for any kind of Caribbean mass immigration according to a US military spokeswoman, are readying the notorious camp for a new role: immigration detention centre. "There's no indication of any mass migration from Haiti," Maj. Diana Haynie said. "We have not been told to conduct migrant operations." But the base is getting ready "as a prudent measure," since "it takes some time to set things up."
This is all very timely as Friday was the deadline impossed by Obama for closing the camp and the PR engendered by its 'humanitarian' role takes a bit of the heat off of Obama's administration and it's a win-win situation for the military: "The ability to conduct real-world humanitarian assistance and disaster relief ... that's more exhilarating at the moment then walking the block in the detention camp, not to say that walking the block is not an extremely important mission for the United States but probably not as gratifying as saving someone's life." - Rear Adm. Thomas Copeman, Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay commander.
We can only hope that the Haitians are not forced to wear orange jumpsuits and are moved around in shackles with hoods on little wheeled trolleys.
Saturday, 23 January 2010
Life Is Too Short To Be Controlled
22 January 2010
- For Immediate Release -
noborderslondon@riseup.net
Activist group London NoBorders calls for a day of demonstrations in London on 23rd January under the title "Life is too short to be controlled"[1]. The day will start at 2pm at St. Pancras International to protest against the border controls at the Eurostar Terminal and will end with a rally at Piccadilly Circus, where Westminster Council's CCTV HQ is located. [3]
"Surveillance has become ubiquitous" says London activist Thomas Hardenberg. "In a globalised economy, both are aimed at exercising control over people's lives and maintaining what is considered 'public order', from extended police powers, CCTV in the streets to surveillance of internet communication. Migration management and immigration control is nothing else then surveillance on a global scale."
Britain's strong migration controls means that every year thousands of migrants sleep rough in the so called "jungles" in Calais and along the French coast, denying them freedom of movement and the choice to move inside Europe. The UK maintains the biggest complex of detention centres in Europe, detaining 2500 people including minors at any one time, some for several years.[4]
"London is the perfect place for a demonstration against the increasing madness of surveillance and data retention",Rosie Young, of No Borders, says. "It is the city where people get arrested for photographing buildings, where the Met's notorious Forward Intelligence Team is monitoring any political activities, and where each of its inhabitants passes past 300 CCTV cameras every day!"
London is known as the the "City of CCTV" with over 500,000 public and private CCTV cameras, part of about 4.2 million security cameras in the UK.[5]
London No Borders is opposed to the increase in police harassment in the UK in recent years, in particular of political activists and those from immigrant communities, and welcomes last week's decision from the European Court of Justice declaring that the UK stop and search powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 are unlawful.
For questions or interview requests please contact
noborderslondon@riseup.net
Press contact on 23rd January: 0753 5319119
-----------------------------
Notes for editors:
[1] http://london.noborders.org.uk/lifestooshort
[2] London No Borders struggles against all immigration controls and for freedom of movement and equal rights for all. It was set up in 2006 and is part of the No Borders UK network. The group was involved in organising NoBorder camps in Gatwick in 2007 and Calais in 2009.
See http://london.noborders.org.uk.
[3] Westminster CCTV Headquarter praises itself as "the best-practice example on which the future of the UK's public surveillance system should be modelled" and is being used as an educational facility for security forces from all around the world.
[4] There are several large detention centres near London, including at Heathrow (Colnbrook, Harmondsworth), Gatwick (Brook House, Tinsley House) and Bedford (Yarls Wood). There are also smaller "holding centres" in the city, including London Bridge (Beckett House), Old Street (Communications House) and at the Eurostar terminal in St Pancras.
[5] For some statistics on CCTV in the UK, see:
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/factcheck+how+many+cctv+cameras/2291167
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8159141.stm
- For Immediate Release -
noborderslondon@riseup.net
Activist group London NoBorders calls for a day of demonstrations in London on 23rd January under the title "Life is too short to be controlled"[1]. The day will start at 2pm at St. Pancras International to protest against the border controls at the Eurostar Terminal and will end with a rally at Piccadilly Circus, where Westminster Council's CCTV HQ is located. [3]
"Surveillance has become ubiquitous" says London activist Thomas Hardenberg. "In a globalised economy, both are aimed at exercising control over people's lives and maintaining what is considered 'public order', from extended police powers, CCTV in the streets to surveillance of internet communication. Migration management and immigration control is nothing else then surveillance on a global scale."
Britain's strong migration controls means that every year thousands of migrants sleep rough in the so called "jungles" in Calais and along the French coast, denying them freedom of movement and the choice to move inside Europe. The UK maintains the biggest complex of detention centres in Europe, detaining 2500 people including minors at any one time, some for several years.[4]
"London is the perfect place for a demonstration against the increasing madness of surveillance and data retention",Rosie Young, of No Borders, says. "It is the city where people get arrested for photographing buildings, where the Met's notorious Forward Intelligence Team is monitoring any political activities, and where each of its inhabitants passes past 300 CCTV cameras every day!"
London is known as the the "City of CCTV" with over 500,000 public and private CCTV cameras, part of about 4.2 million security cameras in the UK.[5]
London No Borders is opposed to the increase in police harassment in the UK in recent years, in particular of political activists and those from immigrant communities, and welcomes last week's decision from the European Court of Justice declaring that the UK stop and search powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 are unlawful.
For questions or interview requests please contact
noborderslondon@riseup.net
Press contact on 23rd January: 0753 5319119
-----------------------------
Notes for editors:
[1] http://london.noborders.org.uk/lifestooshort
[2] London No Borders struggles against all immigration controls and for freedom of movement and equal rights for all. It was set up in 2006 and is part of the No Borders UK network. The group was involved in organising NoBorder camps in Gatwick in 2007 and Calais in 2009.
See http://london.noborders.org.uk.
[3] Westminster CCTV Headquarter praises itself as "the best-practice example on which the future of the UK's public surveillance system should be modelled" and is being used as an educational facility for security forces from all around the world.
[4] There are several large detention centres near London, including at Heathrow (Colnbrook, Harmondsworth), Gatwick (Brook House, Tinsley House) and Bedford (Yarls Wood). There are also smaller "holding centres" in the city, including London Bridge (Beckett House), Old Street (Communications House) and at the Eurostar terminal in St Pancras.
[5] For some statistics on CCTV in the UK, see:
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/factcheck+how+many+cctv+cameras/2291167
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8159141.stm
Friday, 22 January 2010
Police Ratchet Up Repression Of Migrants In Calais
Since 15 December the BCMO gymnasium in Calais has been used as a cold shelter for up to 200 migrants in the area. The only luxuries available were the cardboard boxes used by the migrants to sleep on. No camp beds, blankets or sleeping bags unless the migrants managed to find their own and keep the police from confiscating and destroying them.
On Monday the cold shelter was closed and the migrants left to fend for themselves. This inevitably meant dodging the police whilst they tried to find a safe place which the police did not know about, so they might snatch a few hours sleep in the cold and wet.
On Tuesday the migrants held a demonstration outside the BCMO protesting its closure. Later that evening Salam, one of the local humanitarian groups that whose volunteers were involved in running the shelter, and who provide daily food handouts, distributed 150 tents to some of the migrants so, as Salam put it, "they can spend the night in a shelter with a minimum of protection." Whilst some migrants then went off to find a 'safe' place to pitch their tents, the majority of the Afghans decided to pitch theirs next to the empty BCMO.
Almost immediately 10 police vans and around 50 CRS turned up and told the migrants if they did not pack up and leave within 15 minutes their tents would be destroyed. After negotiation they agreed that the migrants could leave with tents in the direction of the old jungle and they would not stop anyone or destroy any tents. The police even escorted the migrants and the local activists who had tried to negotiate with the cops to he place where they claimed they would not interfere with them setting up camp. Yet at 2 am and 7 am they came back and arrested people.
At midday, 20 vans of CRS surrounded the jungle and destroyed the whole camp. Calais Migrant Solidarity activists managed to recover a few tents and sleeping bags from the municipal tip where it was dumped and the migrants returned to the BCMO again that evening to try and set up camp again. The Police came and removed all the tents near the BCMO, saying they had orders to prevent any gatherings and destroy forthwith anything that resembles a shelter on public land throughout the parks and in all the "jungles".
That night, a whole company of CRS played a game of cat-and-mouse with the migrants, following their every move and preventing them from stopping anywhere, hunting in the parks and from street to street. The local activists were also threatened with arrest under the offence of Delit de solidarité (the notorious Article 622). That evening representatives of the associations held a meeting with the sub-prefect to complain about the treatment of the migrants when the BCMO was open and to make sure that sufficient equipment including cots, blankets and cleaning equipment be made available if the cold shelter is reopened, and to make sure that the equipment issued to migrants by the associations no longer be destroyed by police. Activists held a demonstration outside the meeting to reinforce their organisations' anger at the situation.
In response to the immense distress caused to the migrants by the aggravated harassment policy since the closure of the BCMO, the World Medical Association with the help of volunteers from La Belle Etoile, Secours Catholique, C'SUR and No Borders will distribute 300 survival packs with duvets, sheets, rain ponchos, bags and flexible 5 litre jerry cans to the migrants.
In other bad news, on Sunday night someone broke in and wrecked C'SUR's second prefab shower unit, stealing showerheads and a hot water tank. The other unit was fire-bombed and destroyed last month, much to the delight of the Daily Mail (although they seem to have passed on the opportunity to print another gloating article this time).
Calais Migrant Solidarity Press Release:
POLICE DECLARE WAR OF ATTRITION ON CALAIS MIGRANTS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 22/01/10
Contact: calaisolidarity@gmail.com
or call 0033 954 621 951 (France) or 077 949 661 556 (UK)
- Fifty police officers in riot gear crack down on peaceful protest by migrants demanding respect for basic rights
- Officers declare orders to destroy all migrant shelters in the area
- Escalation in repressive tactics leave migrants with nowhere to go
In a rare show of defiance, around 100 migrants camped around a gym which had been used by local charities to provide urgently needed night shelter over the harshest weeks of winter, before its closure on Tuesday [1]. The migrants, primarily from war-torn Afghanistan, also burned some blankets and banners in opposition to the closure, which comes on the back of the repeated eviction of migrants from their camps. Within half an hour, scores of police officers descended on the site threatening to destroy the makeshift camp on failure to disperse. Following a stand off, the migrants were permitted to leave the area, but were closely pursued as they searched for alternative sites to shelter.
Having actually been advised by some police officers to do so, some men set up shelters on the site of one of the former camps, or 'jungles', and were given assurances that the police would not attack. But within hours, the officers had entered the camp several times, arresting six people, in what has now become a daily routine of arresting those without identity documents in Calais in an attempt to flush them out of the area [2]. By midday on Wednesday, 20 CRS (riot police) vehicles had surrounded the new camp, and anything resembling a shelter was destroyed.
Following a relentless routine of police pursuit, arrest and assault this winter, the migrants returned in desperation to the closed night shelter and installed some of the tents that had been discarded by the authorities following the eviction that morning. The police promptly arrived at the scene, announced that they had orders to disperse assemblies and destroy shelters, before seizing the remaining tents.
Throughout the night, the hunt continued as migrants were followed by groups of police, who pre-emptively destroyed any half-erected structures they found.
“The police were quite literally swarming everywhere last night. They were pursuing migrants in case they dare set up shelter, or following any activists who might assist them,” said Joanne, a British activist from the No Borders network who is present at the scene [3].
“This is all part of a carefully planned strategy by the French and British governments to drive the migrants away from the area. But when you think that many of these people are coming from conflict zones like Helmand province, where else are they expected to go?” Joanne continued.
Alex has been involved in documenting - and directly intervening in - the police harassment in Calais for some time. “As shocking as it is, we find that the presence of European citizens during police raids can make a real difference, because the arrests are so arbitrary. It shows that ordinary people do have the power to help migrants defeat this enormous show of force by our governments. I really think that resistance from the migrants themselves and support from ordinary people is the only hope we have of stopping this horrendous repression.”
NOTES FOR EDITORS
[1] The night shelter opened on 15th December, and was intended to provide sleeping space for around 150 of the approximately 300 migrants in the town of Calais over an exceptionally cold few weeks
[2] For a summary of police activities in December, please see our report
here: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/01/444188.html
[3] The No Borders Network use direct action and practical solidarity to fight for freedom of movement for all. They form part of the Calais Migrant Solidarity group which has maintained a continued presence in Calais since the Summer.
On Monday the cold shelter was closed and the migrants left to fend for themselves. This inevitably meant dodging the police whilst they tried to find a safe place which the police did not know about, so they might snatch a few hours sleep in the cold and wet.
On Tuesday the migrants held a demonstration outside the BCMO protesting its closure. Later that evening Salam, one of the local humanitarian groups that whose volunteers were involved in running the shelter, and who provide daily food handouts, distributed 150 tents to some of the migrants so, as Salam put it, "they can spend the night in a shelter with a minimum of protection." Whilst some migrants then went off to find a 'safe' place to pitch their tents, the majority of the Afghans decided to pitch theirs next to the empty BCMO.
Almost immediately 10 police vans and around 50 CRS turned up and told the migrants if they did not pack up and leave within 15 minutes their tents would be destroyed. After negotiation they agreed that the migrants could leave with tents in the direction of the old jungle and they would not stop anyone or destroy any tents. The police even escorted the migrants and the local activists who had tried to negotiate with the cops to he place where they claimed they would not interfere with them setting up camp. Yet at 2 am and 7 am they came back and arrested people.
At midday, 20 vans of CRS surrounded the jungle and destroyed the whole camp. Calais Migrant Solidarity activists managed to recover a few tents and sleeping bags from the municipal tip where it was dumped and the migrants returned to the BCMO again that evening to try and set up camp again. The Police came and removed all the tents near the BCMO, saying they had orders to prevent any gatherings and destroy forthwith anything that resembles a shelter on public land throughout the parks and in all the "jungles".
That night, a whole company of CRS played a game of cat-and-mouse with the migrants, following their every move and preventing them from stopping anywhere, hunting in the parks and from street to street. The local activists were also threatened with arrest under the offence of Delit de solidarité (the notorious Article 622). That evening representatives of the associations held a meeting with the sub-prefect to complain about the treatment of the migrants when the BCMO was open and to make sure that sufficient equipment including cots, blankets and cleaning equipment be made available if the cold shelter is reopened, and to make sure that the equipment issued to migrants by the associations no longer be destroyed by police. Activists held a demonstration outside the meeting to reinforce their organisations' anger at the situation.
In response to the immense distress caused to the migrants by the aggravated harassment policy since the closure of the BCMO, the World Medical Association with the help of volunteers from La Belle Etoile, Secours Catholique, C'SUR and No Borders will distribute 300 survival packs with duvets, sheets, rain ponchos, bags and flexible 5 litre jerry cans to the migrants.
In other bad news, on Sunday night someone broke in and wrecked C'SUR's second prefab shower unit, stealing showerheads and a hot water tank. The other unit was fire-bombed and destroyed last month, much to the delight of the Daily Mail (although they seem to have passed on the opportunity to print another gloating article this time).
Calais Migrant Solidarity Press Release:
POLICE DECLARE WAR OF ATTRITION ON CALAIS MIGRANTS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 22/01/10
Contact: calaisolidarity@gmail.com
or call 0033 954 621 951 (France) or 077 949 661 556 (UK)
- Fifty police officers in riot gear crack down on peaceful protest by migrants demanding respect for basic rights
- Officers declare orders to destroy all migrant shelters in the area
- Escalation in repressive tactics leave migrants with nowhere to go
In a rare show of defiance, around 100 migrants camped around a gym which had been used by local charities to provide urgently needed night shelter over the harshest weeks of winter, before its closure on Tuesday [1]. The migrants, primarily from war-torn Afghanistan, also burned some blankets and banners in opposition to the closure, which comes on the back of the repeated eviction of migrants from their camps. Within half an hour, scores of police officers descended on the site threatening to destroy the makeshift camp on failure to disperse. Following a stand off, the migrants were permitted to leave the area, but were closely pursued as they searched for alternative sites to shelter.
Having actually been advised by some police officers to do so, some men set up shelters on the site of one of the former camps, or 'jungles', and were given assurances that the police would not attack. But within hours, the officers had entered the camp several times, arresting six people, in what has now become a daily routine of arresting those without identity documents in Calais in an attempt to flush them out of the area [2]. By midday on Wednesday, 20 CRS (riot police) vehicles had surrounded the new camp, and anything resembling a shelter was destroyed.
Following a relentless routine of police pursuit, arrest and assault this winter, the migrants returned in desperation to the closed night shelter and installed some of the tents that had been discarded by the authorities following the eviction that morning. The police promptly arrived at the scene, announced that they had orders to disperse assemblies and destroy shelters, before seizing the remaining tents.
Throughout the night, the hunt continued as migrants were followed by groups of police, who pre-emptively destroyed any half-erected structures they found.
“The police were quite literally swarming everywhere last night. They were pursuing migrants in case they dare set up shelter, or following any activists who might assist them,” said Joanne, a British activist from the No Borders network who is present at the scene [3].
“This is all part of a carefully planned strategy by the French and British governments to drive the migrants away from the area. But when you think that many of these people are coming from conflict zones like Helmand province, where else are they expected to go?” Joanne continued.
Alex has been involved in documenting - and directly intervening in - the police harassment in Calais for some time. “As shocking as it is, we find that the presence of European citizens during police raids can make a real difference, because the arrests are so arbitrary. It shows that ordinary people do have the power to help migrants defeat this enormous show of force by our governments. I really think that resistance from the migrants themselves and support from ordinary people is the only hope we have of stopping this horrendous repression.”
NOTES FOR EDITORS
[1] The night shelter opened on 15th December, and was intended to provide sleeping space for around 150 of the approximately 300 migrants in the town of Calais over an exceptionally cold few weeks
[2] For a summary of police activities in December, please see our report
here: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/01/444188.html
[3] The No Borders Network use direct action and practical solidarity to fight for freedom of movement for all. They form part of the Calais Migrant Solidarity group which has maintained a continued presence in Calais since the Summer.
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