PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday July 2001
Tel 020 8554 2205 (Richard Byrne)
Mystery surrounds unexplained deportation of G8 Brits
Idea of human rights “Utopia” – British police officer.

In a flagrant breach of their human rights three British protestors were held without access to a lawyer for 8 hours at immigration in Genoa yesterday before being deported back to Stansted without explanation.

The three, Richard Byrne, a vet from east London (29, travelling with the World Development Movement), Julie Quinn, 20 , a Glaswegian student and John Harper, 30, a Glaswegian factory worker (both travelling with globalise Resistance) were told by the Italian police that the English police had told them to deport the three. They were given no more explanation over the subsequent 8 hours during which the immigration officials played cat and mouse with the legal team from the Genoa Social Forum, moving the three campaigners from the Italian part of the airport to a room next to the runway, in the “immigration zone” to stop the lawyer getting access to them.

Richard Byrne said, “It was surreal. Two British police officers passing through told us that because we had not been arrested and because we were in the ‘immigration zone’ we had no rights to legal representation or phone calls. When we said to the British police that people’s human rights, including the right to legal representation , existed everywhere in the world they said that was ‘Utopia’”

The three were escorted back to Stansted by four Italian immigration officials.
“Even on the plane, we were still their prisoners.” Richard said. “While the G8 leaders sit down to plan tearing down border restrictions on capital flows in poor countries and the buying up of their state industries by rich northern multinationals, they are closing down borders to people and their right to peaceful protest.”
“The bullies at immigration have frightening power. They can do anything they want. We were shabbily treated as white Europeans who spoke up for our rights, we could only imagine how frightening it must be for a Kurd or a Somali.”

CONTACT RICHARD 020 8554 2205
JOHN HARPER (MAKING HIS WAY BACK TO GENOA) 07866 465452
PHOTOS OF THE THREE ARRIVING BACK AT STANSTED- 01245 382341 ( DIGITAL PICS AVAILABLE ).
OF THE THREE IN THE IMMIGRATION OFFICE IN GENOA. RICHARD 020 8554 2205.






Notes
- The World Development Movement is Britain's largest organisation dedicated to campaigning on third world and development issues. WDM works to tackle the root causes of poverty. Through its ground-breaking campaigns it wins positive change for the world's poorest people. WDM has over 10,000 supporters and 120 active local groups. The World Development Movement was a founder member of the Jubilee 2000 coalition, and of the new Jubilee Debt Campaign that has succeeded it.