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08.Apr.05 - reports from actions that took part in the framwork of the 2nd european action day for freedom of movement and the right to stay
France
Paris:
On Friday April 1st, 2005, around one hundred persons have occupied in the afternoon the IOM (International Organization for Migrations) offices in Paris. Within the framework of the 2nd European day of mobilization, a dozen of associations, groups, collectives and individuals (9ème collectif de Sans-Papiers, AC!, Alternative Libertaire, CNT, Collectif de soutien aux exilés du 10ème, Coordination des Intermittents et Précaires d'Ile de France, Droits devant !!, GISTI) gathered to denounce the global policies of management of migrations based upon utilitarianism: Europe wants workers, not citizens. The head of IOM-Paris, Abye Makonnen, maintained that his NGO was in foreigners camps only to insure the "well being" of the migrants, and to provide them assistance, and that IOM is only a tool for states decisions to "restraint" borders crossing.
[more pictures here]
Calais:
The Sans Papiers'collective has carried out a sensibilization initiative to Calais' inhabitnts of the existence of detention centre for migrants. Just behind a shopping mall there is actually a huge detention centres for migrants. The French parliament standed for it closing down but at he same time the Parliament doesn't want to let other migrants in France.
Austria - Vienna:
On the second euopeanwide day of migrants struggles, some 150 people met around 2pm in front of one of Viennas deportation prison @ Hernalser Gürtel 6-12. Leaflets have been distributed and a short speech informed the crowd and people passing by. Because of the demonstration, the police, who is running the prison, didn't allow people to visit the prisoners on this day - so the protest was also directed against this disposal from the police.
After some time, the demonstration started. There was much sun and many people in the streets. It was a noisy demonstration and many people get notice of the europeanwide actionday and the aim of the demostration: to abolish all racist laws and stop all deportations. More leaflets were spread.
Around 4:30pm, the demonstration arrived at Viennas second prison which is used to imprison illegalised people at Rossauer Lände 7-9. The crowd walked around the prsion two times. Then a short manifestation was hold which was used to make more noise. At 5pm, the demonstration was over.
Finland - Helsinki
In Helsinki, a demonstration and an occupation of Finnair office took place on the European Action Day, 2nd of April 2005.
Demonstration marched the streets in the center of Helsinki shouting slogans and holding speeches against the Finnish and European migration control, detention centers, deportations and the exploitation of precarized migrant workforce.
Finnish migration policy is even more selective and absurd than in most EU countries. While politicians and bureaucrats are talking about the need to make Finland more tempting for foreign workers, at the same time they are using more and more resources to deport loads of migrants who already have settled here.
The demonstration headed back to Kiasma, from where people headed to the office of Finnair airlines company, occupying it symbolically. Finnair is handling most of the deportation flights from Finland, and therefore is one of the very few instances, who benefit from the suffering of deported migrants. Demonstrators talked to the employees of the office and demanded Finnair to withdraw from deportation business immediately. Dozens of people stayed outside the office distributing leaflets about the action.
The Action Day was connected to the upcoming EuroMayDay mobilization, which will take place also in Helsinki.
[more pictures here]
The Netherlands (Rotterdam):
Activists went to the Rotterdam harbour, where two boats are used as prisons for migrants, with about 760 people confined inside in very hard living conditions. This is a new type of detention recently invented by the government to lock up migrants in a cheaper way compared to building prisons for this purpose. Activists tried to make themselves seen and heard by the people inside the boats, to manifest their solidarity. Migrants responded from the inside throwing pieces of paper with messages on them from the windows. In Holland a maximum period of detention is not scheduled, and the detention can be renewed month by month for an indeterminate period, so people con be prisoned even fo ten or eleven months.
[more pictures here]
Sweden (Goteburg):
In Goteborg there has been a manifestation focused on the issues of migration and the right to stay. In Sweden there are several detention centres, with more and more people in them, and the living conditions are getting worse. That’s why they’re building new detention camps. The Swedish government has recognized the campaign carried on by activists about the human rights of the migrants, soon the system is going to change and the situation is going to improve for 10-15000 migrants.
Slovenia
In Slovenia there were to actions. A manifestation under the slogan 'Not tolerance - rights for everyone!' and a communicative action against Detention center in Veliki otok near Postojna titled 'For Wireless Europe'.
[more pictures here, here and here]
Greece (Athens)
ATHEN
In Athens it was actually one of the biggest demostrations ever happened in the city about the rights of migrants. We suppose it was around 5.000 people and most of them (like the 70%) were migrants. Most of the migrant communities were there, although strangely very few of the albanese showed up.
[more pictures here, here, here and here]
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