Update Reports on Refugee struggles from Hamburg and Luxemburg
Update Reports on Refugee struggles from Hamburg and Luxemburg
Karawane Report from Hamburg on Lampedusa Refugees civil disobedience for
Basic Rights and Residence
To all the freedom fighters
Nunu, Daniel and Issah were released from police headquarter after 5 am
this morning.
A civil disobedience – a peaceful sit in – was brutally attacked by
Hamburg police. Since one year the Hamburg Senate (social democrat SPD)
with its mayor Olaf Scholz is refusing to recognize the basic rights of
the Libyan war refugees “Lampedusa in Hamburg”. Samuel Mensah und Francis
Kwame died in consequence of which. After so many demonstrations the group
decided a sit in on the city hall square in front of the Government house.
Several Refugees and supporters who joined the act of civil disobedience
were pulled violently out of the sitting crowd resisting only by their
physical presence determined not to leave. Some were arrested and later
released. The Police could not break the protest.
After the first and the second wave of attacks on the protesters the
police recognized that it will take long to evict the place while more
people may enter the square. The group decided to march to the police
station where their brothers were detained. Three Water cannons were
placed at the station and police units blocked the way. At the same time
most of the arrested were released. The remaining three were brought to
the police headquarter for finger printing procedures. They seized their
Italian documents and gave a paper with the request to report on the same
day at the immigration office.
It was another shameful day for Hamburg but a strong signal of the
refugees to resist the silent killing in Germanys asylum and deportation
system.
Solidarity to all the refugee resistance everywhere
Report by caravan for the rights of refugees and migrants in hamburg
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/98466105@N06/sets/72157645020451501/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.767690096586177.1073741973.599…
http://kein-mensch-ist-illegal-hh.blogspot.de/2014/06/hamburg-rathaus-la…
Related Reports:
Protest March For Freedom
http://freedomnotfrontex.noblogs.org/
Sitzstreik von “Lampedusa in Hamburg” vor dem Rathaus löst heftige
Polizeibrutalität aus
http://thecaravan .org
Hamburg Police Brutalizing Lampedusa refugees peaceful protest
http://thevoiceforum.org/node/3611
+++++
Luxembourg the 5th of June, 2014
Press Release
Today we were brutally attacked by police forces in Luxembourg during our
peaceful blockade action against the summit of the European Council. While
the Ministers of Interior Affairs of every EU member state were sitting
inside behind closed doors speaking about the Mediterranean Task Force,
the new Executive Director of Frontex as well as better ways to
administrate the Schengen Area. As the agenda of the summit concerns us,
the victims of their laws and policies, we wanted to send representatives
of the Protest March for Freedom to read out our demands, since our voices
– as a group thats fighting for the rights of the oppressed – should be
the priority topic of such a summit. Our peaceful blockade got violently
smashed by the police and security forces in and around the conference
building. During their whole operation the police was not communicating
with us in any way, even though most of the officers speak three languages
(english, french and german). They ignored all our attempts to talk with
them in order to explain to them that we want to talk in behalf of the
refugees during the summit. Pepper spray attacks, beating with battons,
kicks and bites of the police dogs were the only answer we received. The
police also told us that in case we move further into the building where
the summit took place, they have the authority to use their guns against
us. Many of us got injured.
We pushed back and gathered in the middle of the square with our banners
and loudspeakers. We held speeches in order to make ourselves be heard
from the outside, as our demand to participate in the summit continued to
go totally ignored. Once again we read out our demands, addressed the
police burtality and asked the police over and over again to stop
escalating the situation as we are a non-violent protest march well known
in the public.
Then, after we announced that we will continue with our march and started
to leave the police forces attacked our march once again. They surrounded
us, blocked off all exits and started to attack us once more with pepper
spray, physical violence and police dogs. Then they started to arrest the
people from the march, targeting mainly refugees.
The protest march followed the arrested comrades to the police station
escorted by dozens of police cars and police officers who on the way
harrased over and over again those individuals from the march that were
spreading flyers to the passing people. The march arrived at the front
door of the police station and started a rally there. After several hours
of protest our 13 comrades finally got released.
During the last twenty years – since 1993 – over 17 000 deaths have been
documented in the mediteranean sea; People trying to escape from wars,
poverty, exploitation and oppression. Though the problems that they are
fleeing from are mostly caused by capitalist dominant countries, at the
borders (of those countries) refugees face strong controls that are part
of the racist policy that makes immigration illegal. Human Beings who
know that freedom of movement is their basic human right face military
operations both at the border and in the sea. Closed borders and strong
controls are ending up creating an ungoing tragedy in the mediterranean
sea.
We condamn this capitalist system which is isolating people and is
depriving them from their basic human rights just to keep the profit
growing.
We also condamn the brutal behavior and criminalization of the Luxembourg
police that acted illegitimately violent towards us. We are struggling
non-violently for our fundamental rights like freedom of movement and
residency. We do not allow state authorities to intimidate us with their
illegitimate criminalization of our struggle, and we never give up.
Tomorrow we will cross the border between Luxemburg and Belgium thats
supposed to be controlled because of the G7 meeting. The politicians that
gather there are the heads of those states that are responsible for our
situation and the criminalization of the people who are victims of their
racist policies. We will not let them restrict our lives, our rights or
our freedom of movement anymore!
So still we will cross the border in spite of the controls and therefore
we call for your full support and solidarity. Especially media presence is
in high demand!
We are here and we will fight – Freedom of Movement is Everybodies Right!
No border crossing is illegal!