Newcastle Asylum Protests Continue Despite Police Intimidation.
Matthew Ridings | 15.12.2006 13:55 | Anti-racism | Migration | Repression
Newcastle-based asylum rights organization Tyneside Community Action for Refugees continue to organize protests in support of the protesters in Harmondsworth and Yarl’s Wood detention centres and to end the detention of children.
On Saturday, 9th December a group of around 30-40 TCAR members gathered near the Monument in Newcastle city centre to chant and shout slogans. The chanting was led by young Turkish & Kurdish asylum seekers who shouted "Stop Locking Up Children" at the top of their voices to the amazement of all the Christmas shoppers.
Hundreds of leaflets were distributed to the general public informing them of the current abysmal conditions in Harmondsworth and other detention centres, and the need to support asylum seekers in their struggle. Several people stopped & expressed their astonishment at the racist behaviour of the Home Office. The people on the demo were buoyed by their success and there was lots of spontaneous singing, clapping & dancing.
Unfortunately the end of the demo was marred by the heavy-handed intervention of the local police force, who parked their van in front of the demo and tried to intimidate the protestors. The protestors were informed that they were required to move further away from the Newcastle United shop but after they had done so they were then told that they were obstructing the highway, despite the fact that cars & people could pass easily by the demo.
An aggressive police officer then proceeded to arrest a protestor who was filming his conversation with a local solicitor. The solicitor had been defending the demonstrators right to protest. The police officer then forced the protestor to erase the film of the conversation from his mobile phone as a precondition for his release.
As all this was going on several members of the public stopped and were extremely supportive. The oppressive actions of the police only served to increase the impact of the demonstration.
NO TO DETENTION! NO TO FORCED DEPORTATION! STOP LOCKING UP CHILDREN!
For more information please contact TCAR:
tynesidecarn@yahoo.co.uk
Hundreds of leaflets were distributed to the general public informing them of the current abysmal conditions in Harmondsworth and other detention centres, and the need to support asylum seekers in their struggle. Several people stopped & expressed their astonishment at the racist behaviour of the Home Office. The people on the demo were buoyed by their success and there was lots of spontaneous singing, clapping & dancing.
Unfortunately the end of the demo was marred by the heavy-handed intervention of the local police force, who parked their van in front of the demo and tried to intimidate the protestors. The protestors were informed that they were required to move further away from the Newcastle United shop but after they had done so they were then told that they were obstructing the highway, despite the fact that cars & people could pass easily by the demo.
An aggressive police officer then proceeded to arrest a protestor who was filming his conversation with a local solicitor. The solicitor had been defending the demonstrators right to protest. The police officer then forced the protestor to erase the film of the conversation from his mobile phone as a precondition for his release.
As all this was going on several members of the public stopped and were extremely supportive. The oppressive actions of the police only served to increase the impact of the demonstration.
NO TO DETENTION! NO TO FORCED DEPORTATION! STOP LOCKING UP CHILDREN!
For more information please contact TCAR:
tynesidecarn@yahoo.co.uk
Matthew Ridings
e-mail:
tynesidecarn@yahoo.co.uk
Additions
Unlawful action
17.12.2006 22:59
The police action forcing the video to be wiped is a blatant abuse of police powers by the local constabulary. The person who was arrested with the camera should put in a complaint and demand that it is properly investigated. Otherwise the police are going to think that they can get away with this in future and up the harassment.
fB
fB
freebeagles
Homepage:
http://www.freebeagles.org
