Dover Detainees Demand 'Proper Investigation'

Detainees in Dover immigration detention centre have issued a statement demanding an official investigation into the death of fellow detainee Jimmy Mubenga, who died during his forcible deportation on a British Airways flight to Angola on 12 October.

Three G4S security guards are accused of having caused his death as witnesses told how the 46-year-old man was being "heavily restrained by security guards and had complained of breathing problems before he collapsed." [1]

The three men have since been questioned by police and bailed until December pending further inquires.

The statement, so far signed by over 25 of the detainees, also demanded that "all those responsible for this brutal crime at the UKBA, G4S and British Airways are held responsible and punished accordingly."

Detainees in other detention centres around the country are said to have been disturbed by the news and many said they fear that the same might happen to them when they are "deported in the caring hands of G4S." According to campaigners, detainees in various detention centres started to organise mass protests but these soon died out as many feared "management's retaliation."

This is not the first time that news of the use of excessive force by private security guards during deportation operations have surfaced. In 2008, a report by Birnberg Peirce & Partners, Medical Justice and the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns documented "an alarming number of injuries" sustained by asylum seekers at the hands of private security guards contracted by the Home Office during their detention and forcible deportation. [2] An independent report by Baroness Nuala O'Loan, the former Northern Ireland police ombudsman, found in March that security contractors involved in deportations had "failed to properly manage the use of violent restraint techniques by their staff." More recently, research by the Institute of Race Relations revealed that at least 14 people have died since 1991 during forced deportations from various European countries, including the UK. [3]

One of the Dover detainees, who preferred to keep anonymous, said: "This is not the first time this happens and we know what happens with this kind of 'investigations' promised every time by the Home Office. We want a proper, independent investigation that holds all those responsible for Jimmy murder to account, not just the three security guards."

-ends-

For further information, please contact stopdeportation[at-]riseup.net


Notes for editors:

[1] See:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/14/security-guards-accused-jimmy-mubenga-death

[2] See: http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/411/88/

[3] http://www.irr.org.uk/2010/october/ha000016.html

Xenophobic Gloatting

'Ban On Asylum Seekers Taking Council Homes' - another typical xenophobic and untruthful headline from that well-known racist rag the Daily Excress. Birmingham City Council have not banned asylum seekers from council housing, they have said they will not regrettably renew its contact with the Borders Agency to house asylum seekers when it is due for renewal in June next year. Not exactly the same thing is it? That's not to say the Daily Torygraph with 'Birmingham stops accepting asylum seekers' or the Daily Flail with its gleeful 'Asylum seekers last in the housing queue: Britain's biggest council decides to put its locals first' are that accurate either.

Brussels No Border Camp Repression

The Brussels No Border Camp, which took place from 25 September to 3 October, was subject to a high level of police repression with the sort of 'preventative' arbitrary mass arrests aimed at incapacitating demonstrators; routine violence and brutalisation, which often ended in hospitalisation; threats of sexual violence and other humiliations in custody; the confiscation of threatening items such as banners and memory cards from cameras; as well as the theft of personal property, cash, passports and ID.

Statewatch has posted an informative piece on the policing issues and there are a number of postings of the experiences of individuals on the net such as Marianne Maeckelbergh. However, numerous actions and event manages to proceed (a list of which can be accessed at Indymedia Linksunten) and the police did not have it all their own way as witnessed by three activists disrupted a police recruitment event at the Commensurate Ixelles in Brussels. During question and answer session at the event the activists, one of whom had spent 24 hours in custody earlier on in the week, challenged the behaviour of the police. They were eventually dragged outside and spent much of the rest of the day under arrest.

Calais Audio Piece

There is a short audio piece currently available from Deutsche Welle on the situation in Calais, which includes an interview with a Calais Migrant Solidarity activist.

Australia - Hunger Strike Ends/Afghan Asylum Processing Restarts

The sixteen Kurdish and Iranian men who have been on hunger strike for the past two weeks in the Villawood detention centre ended their protest last night and began taking on board food and water. The end of the hunger strike was marked by a demonstration outside the Department of Immigration in Sydney which were also called to protest the two rooftop occupations last week.

In other Australian news, the Gillard government had ended its six-month-long moratorium on the processing of Afghan asylum claims, signalling the likelihood of renewed efforts to begin deporting refused Afghan asylum seekers and help ease the overcrowding crisis in the Australian detention estate.

The Persecution Of Roma - Info Night

On Thursday the High Court reversed an earlier decision preventing Basildon Council from evicting the Dale Farm community and the council are likely to go ahead with what will be the UK's largest forced mass eviction in peacetime in the next 4-5 weeks.
We urgently need to mobilise resistance/support London No Borders have organised a meeting for tomorrow about this as well as what's happening in Europe!


THE PERSECUTION OF ROMA - INFO NIGHT

TUESDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER, 7pm AT LARC, 62 Fieldgate Road, Whitechapel

In the last few weeks we have seen a terrifying attack on the Roma in France . Led by President Sarkozy himself, the French State has declared war on the Roma population, both recent arrivals from Eastern Europe and Roma who have lived in France for generations. There have been highly publicised eviction raids on Roma and Gypsy settlements with mass deportations to Eastern European countries. The language used by the French Sate is the same as that of Vichy when they rounded up Jews for the Concentration camps. This has polarised French opinion and thousands came out to demonstrate in solidarity with the Roma throughout France.

What is happening in France is the latest act in a recent round of attacks by Governments, mobs, fascists or all three in may countries across Europe . Roma people have been killed in Eastern Europe, driven out of their homes in Italy and Ireland in recent months. Here in Britain we are seeing the same things developing. Roma from Eastern Europe are targeted in the gutter press, local politicians often from the mainstream parties and fascists. And the authorities are stepping up their attacks on Gypsies and Travellers. The State is preparing to evict the largest site in the country - Dale Farm - and they have just brutally evicted Hovefields nearby.

Please come along to the info night. We have invited Roma organisations, we have speakers involved in local struggles here and we are hoping for a speaker from France also.

London No Borders: http://london.noborders.org.uk
No One is Illegal (London contact): contact@caic.org.uk

Serco Punish Australian Rooftop Protesters

According to Australian refugee advocate groups, all of the 20 participants in this week's two rooftop protests, except a pregnant woman involved in the second action which ended late Thursday, have been placed in maximum security isolation since they ended their protests. Meanwhile, the main week-long hunger strike involving 16 detainees continues.

At the same time, the nephew of the 36-year-old Fijian man whose suicide precipitated the first protest has been released from custody, and who was to be deported alongside his uncle, has been released from the Villawood detention centre. Also yesterday, the memorial service for Josefa Rauluni originally planned to take place within the grounds of Villawood was cancelled at the last moment by Serco and the service had to take place on a footpath next to the detention centre fence so that detainees could still take part.

Interestingly, it has been revealed that Mr Rauluni's death, like the estimated 27 deaths to have occurred in Australian detention centres since 2000, will not be recorded in the official government register of deaths in custody, suggesting an attempt to circumvent the government's duty of care for detainees according to a number of refugee advocates and legal experts.