Sasha
30th November 2012, 03:02
http://www.at5.nl/imgcache/a/a216ce093c08b7f347049efceb56db47.jpg
since a few months refugees and other illegalized are demonstrating in among other places in amsterdam, the hague, berlin and australia by camping "occupy" style in highly visible places in the cities thus breaking the "what i cant see doesnt exist" attitude of the general public.
these camps have become launchpads for demonstrations, hungerstrikes and other actions. As its getting colder and the camp in amsterdam got some negative attention through the rightwing press and an action by a neo-fascist group that padlocked the camp closed one night the Labour mayor van der Laan has been trying to evict the place, "offering" the illegalized the "choice" between a month beds in a homeless shelter (where they normaly are not welcome because they are not legal residents) and arrest resulting in up to 18 months in foreigner prison (after they are thrown back on the streets because they cant be deported because they are either stateless or from an country that doesnt take back refugees like Iraq or Somalia).
After an extensive court battle the mayor got earlier this week his permission to evict the camp early tomorrow morning, while at first several dozen refugees accepted the "offer" for one month shelter, when they saw the conditions they would be housed in and that they will be separated from their comrades almost all returned in the course of yesterday to face the eviction.
i just came back from there to walk my dog and charge my phone and will return in a bit to protest and observe the eviction (i already almost got nicked for being annoying in public about an hour ago, we where spreading protest poster in the neighborhood and the cops didnt appreciate me putting one on their copcar and photographing it even though they couldnt explain to me what was illegal in what i did :rolleyes:; https://www.indymedia.nl/indyfiles/imagecache/cropstrip/raw/IMAG0227.jpg).
the about 130 refugees are all pretty desperate and very tired but also very grateful for the support & solidarity they got from a (way too small) group of dutch activists, several no-border activists will let themselves get arrested tomorrow together with the illegalised and will in part also refuse to give their identifying information and thus probably end up in foreign detention with them.
ill report back (if i dont get nicked) over the course of the morning; updates can also be found here https://www.indymedia.nl/node/10854 and here http://no-border.nl/tijdslijn-ontruiming-notweg/ both in dutch, background info (in part also in english) can be found here; http://rechtopbestaan.nl/ and here http://kamposdorp.blogspot.nl/2012/11/new-blog.html?spref=tw
since a few months refugees and other illegalized are demonstrating in among other places in amsterdam, the hague, berlin and australia by camping "occupy" style in highly visible places in the cities thus breaking the "what i cant see doesnt exist" attitude of the general public.
these camps have become launchpads for demonstrations, hungerstrikes and other actions. As its getting colder and the camp in amsterdam got some negative attention through the rightwing press and an action by a neo-fascist group that padlocked the camp closed one night the Labour mayor van der Laan has been trying to evict the place, "offering" the illegalized the "choice" between a month beds in a homeless shelter (where they normaly are not welcome because they are not legal residents) and arrest resulting in up to 18 months in foreigner prison (after they are thrown back on the streets because they cant be deported because they are either stateless or from an country that doesnt take back refugees like Iraq or Somalia).
After an extensive court battle the mayor got earlier this week his permission to evict the camp early tomorrow morning, while at first several dozen refugees accepted the "offer" for one month shelter, when they saw the conditions they would be housed in and that they will be separated from their comrades almost all returned in the course of yesterday to face the eviction.
i just came back from there to walk my dog and charge my phone and will return in a bit to protest and observe the eviction (i already almost got nicked for being annoying in public about an hour ago, we where spreading protest poster in the neighborhood and the cops didnt appreciate me putting one on their copcar and photographing it even though they couldnt explain to me what was illegal in what i did :rolleyes:; https://www.indymedia.nl/indyfiles/imagecache/cropstrip/raw/IMAG0227.jpg).
the about 130 refugees are all pretty desperate and very tired but also very grateful for the support & solidarity they got from a (way too small) group of dutch activists, several no-border activists will let themselves get arrested tomorrow together with the illegalised and will in part also refuse to give their identifying information and thus probably end up in foreign detention with them.
ill report back (if i dont get nicked) over the course of the morning; updates can also be found here https://www.indymedia.nl/node/10854 and here http://no-border.nl/tijdslijn-ontruiming-notweg/ both in dutch, background info (in part also in english) can be found here; http://rechtopbestaan.nl/ and here http://kamposdorp.blogspot.nl/2012/11/new-blog.html?spref=tw