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Fortress Europe, struggles continue

IMCista | 08.10.2009 18:48 | Migration

No Borders activists staged a protest on 6th October at a Arora hotel near Heathrow in protest at the company's plan to convert one of its Gatwick hotels into an immigration prison. Management of the Arora International Hotels have applied for a change of use, which would see the hotel rooms converted into 245 cells, which would supplement the existing 551 places at nearby Brook House and Tinsley House.

On the same day, a number of migrants in the UK and France were in fear of deportation to Afghanistan on a joint charter flight. The anticipated flight was, however, cancelled, although there may be flights planned for the future.

The co-operation between the British and French states is carried over from the destruction of the 'Jungle' in Calais on 22nd September, which initially appeared to have been a media stunt, as many of the migrants removed from the camp have found their way back to Calais, with no possessions and nowhere to go, whilst some of the other camps in the area remained untouched by the brutal police operation that was publicly launched by the French State, and applauded by British politicians such as Home Secretary Alan Johnson. On Wednesday 10th October, the operation resumed with an attack on the Dock Camps. The highly visible harbourside squat inhabited by Palestinians, Egytians, Eritreans and Somalians was destroyed by 20 odd vanloads of CRS. Around 30 arrests were made.Many of those arrested have been released and are sleeping rough, facing continued police harassment. Activists on the ground are appealing for support so that the attacks can be resisted.

At 7.30am on 22nd September, 500 poice swooped on the Calais 'Jungle' bulldozing tents and seizing the migrants. No Border activists at the camp attempted to protect a group of migrants by using a length of rope to form a human shield around the group. The police cut the rope and rushed in, knocking the activists and migrants to the ground, resulting in the dramatic footage that graced the national press.

According to Schnews: "Although some have been sent as far away as Toulouse, a third of the migrants have already been returned to the streets of Calais. They now have no possessions, nothing to eat and nowhere to stay. No Borders activists are remaining in the area, with one saying, "We’re busy trying to help people rebuild the camps - we’ve brought loads of tents and tarps over from the UK.".

Earlier in the Summer, Calais saw activists staging a No Border Camp. Lesvos, Greece, was also the site of a No Border camp, which focused on conditions at the Pagani detention centre.

Like Calais, Lesvos, a Greek island 10km off the coast of Turkey, is a frontier of Europe. Migrants coming from Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, and other countries often find themselves on the island of Lesvos mistakenly thinking they have reached Athens. They come packed on small boats and are frequently shot at, rammed, or have their boats sunk by private paramilitary border police Frontex.

IMCista

Comments

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Other destructions

08.10.2009 10:45

Before the camps in the Docks they destroyed the Eritrean squat, the Jazara jungle, the Iranian jungle, the Sudanese jungle see indymedia Lille for timescale of events and also

http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/

Chiara

less than 55 arrests

08.10.2009 10:52

There were about 55 people living by Paul Devot hangar but some weren't there as they were told that police were going to come in the morning - by th police themselves. The real number or those arrested is 27 plus two minors, minus two people who had papers and were let out. Please follow our blog and twitter, indy Lille did a good press release but how on Earth did you get the idea there were no destructions between the Pashto jungle and the Docks camp there have been destructions all the time and is all on our blog and websites.

Chiara

Response to Chiara

08.10.2009 23:53

The feature says that other camps were left untouched - it wasn't meant to impy that all camps were left untouched. The feature reports what is on the newswire(1) - if there are reports about the other destructions, they aren't easily found - one would expect them to be on the migrant topic wire. It would have been good if a feature was put together earlier, but it didn't happen. In fact the Dock Camp clearance happened after the feature had already been proposed.

https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/10/439408.html is the link where the 55 figure comes from. It is also the figure given on twitter.

"55 people got arrested this morning with the eviction and destruction of the Dock camps.
7:16 AM Oct 7th from web"

http://twitter.com/calaisolidarity

(1)'The features in the centre column on the UK Indymedia site are typically highlights from the open-publishing newswire, the right-hand-side column'

https://docs.indymedia.org/Local/UkFeaturesHowTo

You are welcome to write up the other details and they can be added as an addition.