International Protest Against Immigration Detention

We will march to places in Manchester where migrants' rights are
under attack, in our name, with our tax-money.

Saturday 15th April
Assemble at HMP Stangeways - 12.00 noon
Great Ducie Street
Manchester

Manchester - City of Destitution, Detention and Deportation
Unveil Manchester's hidden shame - the treatment of asylum seekers
and other migrants

Called by an ad-hoc coalition of anti-deportation campaigns in the North West

There are many cases of human rights abuses against detained migrants and refugees fleeing torture, war, and poverty. Immigration detention is a big global private profit making business. As Australians converge on Sydney's notorious Villawood detention centre operated by the multi-national Global Solutions Limited (GSL), in Manchester we are exposing GSL's operations in our city too.

Immigration Court at Piccadilly - many survivors of torture and rape
are left standing in court on their own, deserted by their
solicitors, their cases refused. Not allowed to work, many become
homeless and destitute. "Snatch squads" take families in "dawn
raids" to Dallas Court Enforcement Unit in Salford (operated by Group 4 Securicor), on to Manchester Airport detention facility (operated by GSL) and then to Yarl's Wood Removal Centre (operated by GSL).

Despite abuses documented by Amnesty International, HM Prison
Inspectors, and even captured on film by the BBC, men, women and children continue to be arbitrarily and indefinitely detained
"removal centres" characterised by self-harm, hunger strikes and a
catalogue of medical neglect - no place for any child. At
Harmondsworth Removal Centre 99.6% of "Fast-Track" cases from places like Iran, Myanmar (Burma) and DR Congo were refused. So-called "bogus" asylum seekers have killed themselves rather than be deported back to the persecution they fled. Think about it - why ?

British Airways Travel Shop in Deansgate - British Airways are one of the commercial airlines making profit from deportations to dangerous countries like Sudan and Rwanda. Many detainees have been assaulted by immigration "escorts", some in front of their children. Some were taken back injured from the airport. Some were later released and granted Indefinite Leave to Remain, wondering why they had ever been detained in the first place.

Registry Office in Lloyd Street - even love is stated-controlled ;
you are not now allowed to marry a non-EU national without the
permission of the Home Secretary. Even those already married to
British citizens are not safe - they and their British children are
being forcibly separated in the name of "maintaining effective
immigration controls".

HMP Strangeways - where asylum seekers can be held for the "crime" of working in Manchester and paying tax.

We will pass through China Town - remembering the 58 Chinese people found dead in the back of a lorry in Dover and the 23 drowned in Morecombe Bay ; just two examples of the human price of immigration controls and the exploitation they facilitate.

To A Final Rally In The Peace Gardens - in March half a million
people demonstrated in Los Angeles against the criminalisation of
employing "illegal" migrant labour, on which their economy heavily
depends. Like America, and Australia, Manchester has benefited from migrants for centuries. We reject migrants being scapegoated, electronically monitored, made destitute, detained and deported. We demand justice for migrants, that they be recognised and valued, not criminalised and abused through an unjust and barbaric process. We demand their right to stay, marry, work, and contribute legitimately.

Contact :  wastmanchester@yahoo.co.uk / 07947 996966

Demonstration supported by ; Ashraf Family Must Stay Campaign, Defend Eucharia & Timeyi Campaign, Sukula Family Must Stay Campaign, Manchester Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers, Farhat Khan & Family Campaign, WAST (Women Asylum Seekers Together), No Borders Manchester, United Community Association for Libyan Refugees, Ziadah & Sharif Must Stay Campaign, Olive & Her Children Must Survive Campaign, Samina Altaf Will Stay Campaign, Leeds NO Borders, Leeds Coalition against the War, No One Is Illegal, Brides Without Borders, Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns.