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No Border Camp at the UK Border extention beyond the channel
25-06-2009 20:47
A farcical curtain of steel descended on Calais, and the massive campaign of demonisation of the camp by the local authorities continued in the press. The camp gradually grew to around 1000 people from all over Europe. Many local people visited the site, a group of around 100 mostly Kurdish and Afghani migrants participated at a daily basis and a lot of local kids and young adults hanged out in the Camp [Report and Pics]
It run alongside the main motorway from the port out of town and it was just a few minutes from the "Jungle", the makeshift camps where migrants are living. Migrants report that currently the controls at the border are very tight and that no one has been getting through for few weeks, consequently the number of migrants in Calais are at their highest in several years.
On Sunday 21st of July, people from the camp went to the festival in the town centre of Calais, with a sound system, to give out leaflets that explain the aim and nature of the camp, in an attempt to communicate directly with the locals beyond the media lies. After the prohibition to distribute any kind of literature that was issued the following Monday, giving out leaflets became an action in itself where people got arrested. Issues of the daily produced newspaper "Nomad" were also confiscated.
Assisting the migrants seems to be a criminal offence, which granted an arrest on Wednesday 24th June, but people have been thinking about some paractical ideas you can do this summer to help the hundreds of migrants stranded in Calais.
On Friday 26th morning, a man demanded showers for migrants when he glued himself to the entrance of La Mairie de Calais - one died trying to have one in the dangerous place where they are forced to wash themselves. In the afternoon, the local motorway was blocked to highlight the hypocrisy of allowing freedom of movement for goods and animals but not of people. Reports: [1|2] Pictures: 1 [Summary of Friday actions]
On Saturday 27th, the campers left the Camp at 10am to go to the transnational demonstration. Here there are reports and Photos 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Videos 1 | 2.
Back in the UK, a demonstration was called in solidariy with the detainees in hunger strike in Yarl's Wood detention centre [Photos 1 | 2].
People are using alternative and corporate tools for real time reporting.
General info and resources: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | After Calais what's next? | Reflecting on Calais No Border Camp 2009 | Video on S4 Welsh Chanel
100 000 March In Support Of Tamils
22-06-2009 22:54
On Saturday 20th June, around 100,000 People, including many Tamils, marched in Central London in support of the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The march was organised by the .British Tamil Forum.
There have been accusations of genocide having taken place in Sri Lanka in the last few months. So far this year, it is estimated that over 50,000 Tamils – mainly civilians - have lost their lives in a massive military onslaught by Sinhalese Sri Lankan government forces as the 26-year civil war was brought to a climax with the use of cluster bombs and shelling of civilian areas. Sri Lankan Armed Forces are also alleged to have used chemical weapons.
Over 280,000 displaced civilians are being held in prison camps – where conditions are reported to be dire, with poor sanitation, widespread diseases and a lack of adequate security. Amnesty International has received consistent reports of serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearance, extra-judicial executions and torture and sexual violence, including young girls being abducted from the camps.
Links:
March Reports: 1 | 2 | Short Film | Photos: 1 | 2 | 3
Parliament Square Protest Ends | Protest Against Sri Lankan President At Lords | Previous blockade of Parliament Sq by Tamils
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Detention protests met with brutal assaults
18-06-2009 16:08
Update: More than 40 women in Yarl's Wood continue their hunger strike for the 5th day [more].
A mass hunger strike by families detained at Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire has been met with violent assaults on men, women and children by Serco security guards who mange the prison on behalf on the UK Border Agency. The detainees started the hunger strike on Monday and staged a sit-in in the corridor over their inhumane conditions.
Meanwhile in Brook House, the newly opened detention centre at Gatwick airport, a 'disturbance' broke out on 12th June and a fire was set by rioting detainees in the exercise area causing some damage.
A solidarity protest outside Serco's offices in London (22 Hand Court, Holborn, WC1V 6JF) has been called by No Borders London in support of the Yarl's Wood hunger strikers on Friday, 19th June, from 12noon. Activists from the Tyneside Community Action for Refugees (TCAR) gathered outside government offices in Newcastle on Wednesday to protest against racism and all immigration prisons.
Links and sources: No Borders UK | NCADC | TCAR
SOAS occupied in protest at cleaners immigration raid
16-06-2009 12:18
Update: Occupation ends with (partial) success.
Students and staff at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), along with anti-deportation campaigners, have occupied the School's main building in protest at the management's and immigration authorities' attack on migrant workers at the School. Nine cleaners were detained on Friday, 12th June, in an orchestrated dawn raid in which the management and cleaning contractor ISS reportedly played a 'sickening' role [details].
Five of the nine have already been deported, with the others held in detention pending their deportation. A well-attended rally was held on Monday, 15th June, outside the building [pictures]. Another rally and demonstration were held on Tuesday [pictures | update].
Campaigners believe the raid was the management's 'revenge' against the cleaners' successful campaign, Justice for Cleaners, which saw them winning the London living wage and trade union representation.
Links: Occupation's blog | the Justice for Cleaners campaign | London Indymedia feature | Shouldn't the SOAS raid be the beggining of a campaign against subcontracting?
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Rossport resistance intensifies ahead of arrival of Solitaire
07-06-2009 20:05
On the evening of Monday the 1st June, dredgers and accompanying boats returned to Broadhaven Bay to begin work on the off-shore pipeline for Shell's Corrib Gas project in County Mayo, Ireland. The pipe laying ship, the Solitaire, is expected to arrive within the next few weeks.
The boats have met stiff resistance from people at the newly formed Rossport Solidarity Camp. There have been attempts to dismantle the causeway at the Shell compound and numerous water based actions against dredging work . On Tuesday night the crane on one of the dredgers was occupied for over 10 hours, halting work for this period.
The camp is currently well occupied and the area seems set for another summer of action... Last year, the pipe laying ship, the Solitaire, was forced out of Irish waters with no pipeline laid. The time frame for pipeline work is limited; if resistance can be sustained for enough time pipeline work can be halted again. The camp is calling for people to go to Mayo to support the struggle against Shell.
Links:
Recent Reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Campaign Website | Directions to camp | Indymedia Ireland
Preparations for Calais No Border Camp taking shape
04-06-2009 23:31
Initiatives from the UK, France, Belgium and Germany are currently preparing a protest camp against border controls in Calais, France. The camp, which will take place between 23th and 29th June, will include a transnational demonstration on Saturday, 27th June. The callout describes the aims of the camp as "highlighting the realities of the situation of migrants in Calais" and "challenging the authorities on the ground, to protest against increased repression of migrants and local activists alike." The camp mobilisation in the UK is carried by the No Borders UK network, which calls for the freedom of movement for all and an end to all migration controls.
Resources: Callout for the camp | Transnational demonstration | Red Pepper article | Schnews article | Mobilisation video | London No Borders page about Calais | Travel to demo from London
The Colnbrook blockade
18-05-2009 10:40
For the second time in less than two months, anti-deportation campaigners blockaded a detention centre to try and prevent a mass deportation flight to Iraqi Kurdistan. Six activists from the Stop Deportation network locked themselves together on 12th May, using glass and plastic arm tubes attached to heavy concrete barrels, blocking the entrance to Colnbrook detention centre near Heathrow, where some 45 of the deportees were being held. The blockade lasted for over four hours, after which three coaches carrying the deportees left for an undisclosed airport. All six were arrested (two quite violently) for obstruction of the highway.
Colnbrook IRC under Blockade | Blockade of Colnbrook detention centre | Colnbrook blockade ends with 6 arrests | Pictures | Video
Related: Anti-deportation campaigners blockade Tinsley House immigration prison
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Largest Shareholder Barclays and Top Investors Dump HLS
17-05-2009 23:12
This week it was announced Barclays and four other large investors dropped all shares in Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), Europe's largest and most exposed vivisection laboratory. LSR stock owned by institutional shareholders has now fallen to 12%, placing HLS $4 million below the NYSE minimum listing standard for market value (the only stock exchange listing the company, a major target in the campaign to close HLS).
Following a legal challenge against the CEO's proposal to purchase all of the outstanding LSR stock, an intense global campaign and recent repression against SHAC in Birmingham, a total of 797,284 shares have now been sold. Barclays Global Investors, Barclays Plc, Hartford Investment Management Company, Rice Hall James and Associates LLC, Bank of New York Mellon and Wells Fargo sold all their shares, of which over 400,000 were held by previously largest shareholder Barclays.
Barclays campaign: Global (Videos) | London | Direct action | SHAC topic page
Attacks On Tamils Continue - Westminster Bridge Besieged
15-05-2009 22:09
As attacks by the national army in Sri Lanka have intensified, so do the protests around the world. After the news of thousands of civilian deaths in Sri Lanka at the weekend, which the UN has described as ‘a bloodbath’, British Tamils began a civil disobedience protest on Monday (11.05.09) in the hope that the British government might put genuine and decisive pressure on Sri Lanka to stop the atrocities it is currently committing. Five hundred began the protest at Parliament Square early in the morning. Thousands more joined them, at which point they moved onto Westminster Bridge and closed it off to traffic. Police officers were taken by surprise. The blockade lasted until mid-afternoon, at which time police resorted to physical attacks on people in an effort to clear the bridge.
More than 300,000 Tamils are currently under siege by the Sri Lankan forces. Aerial bombardments and shelling of civilians are continuing. Children and elderly are dying as a direct result of the aerial bombardment. There has been increased violence in Sri Lanka following the capture of Tamil territory. It is estimated more than 75,000 people have already died in the conflict.
Upcoming: Tamil solidarity event this Sunday (17.05.09)
Previous features: Large Protests Erupt In Support Of Tamils | Tamil Blockade at Parliament (IMC London)
On the newswire: Estimate 1700 Tamil civilians killed 3000 injuried in 48 hrs in Sri Lanka | Civil Disobedience Protest By British Tamils Met With Police Brutality | Tamils Blockade Parliament Square Again (photos) | Tamils Blockade Parliament Sq (photos) | Bloodbath unfolding in Sri Lanka | Tamil blockade of Parliament Monday 11th May (photos) | "State terror in Sri Lanka - a Tamil perspective" today at Resonance 104.4 FM | Tamil protesters take to streets as the GENOCIDE of there people gose on | Urgent, westminster blockade happening now | Tamils genocide: More than 2,000 civilians feared slaughtered in a single night
Mayday! Mayday!
07-05-2009 12:28
Brighton's Mayday! Mayday! street party saw 2,000 people from all over the country gathered to protest against capitalism, war and the arms trade. It was called by Smash EDO, the movement that has been campaigning against the EDO MBM/ITT bomb component factory in Brighton for the last 5 years.
Dispatch: Indymedia - Timeline | Last Hours - Timeline
On the newswire: Mayday Mayday, Smashing EDO in pictures | Anti-War Clashes With Police | FIT shut Down in Brighton | Pics of Cops at Mayday | Businesses linked to ITT redecorated | HSBC Smashed | Photos | Video of the Day | Photos of FIT and EGT at Mayday | More Pics | Pictures and Video | Last Hours Pics | NETCU Watch Critique of the Day | Smash EDO claim Brighton demo a success (pressrelease)
Previous Features: Shut ITT - October 2008 | Carnival Against the Arms Trade - June 2008 | Freedom to Protest - June 2008
