7 sans-papiers – 5 men and 2 women – are currently on hunger strike in Calais. 2 of them are vomiting repeatedly but have refused to hospital. They are being supported by Comite de Sans Papiers (CSP) 59.
Amsterdam refugees housed in squatted church following tentcamp eviction
Last Friday 30/11/12, the refugee tent camp at Osdorp, west Amsterdam, was evicted. Activists blocked the entrance to the camp from early morning but they were removed by police between 8am-9am. (Watch video here). After several hours all of the 95 refugees left on the camp were taken by bus to the ‘foreigners police’ station. Most of them were released later that evening, some dressed in just shorts and t-shorts in freezing temperatures.
The refugees were housed in a squat on Friday, a nearby social centre on Saturday and last night (Sunday 2nd November) they moved to a squatted church (‘de Vluchtkerk‘) in the Bos en Lommer region of the city. The owner of the church has said that they can stay there for the next 3 months.
Amsterdam tent camp threatened with eviction on Friday
Amsterdam Mayor Van de Laan has said that he wants to evict the Osdorp refugee tent camp in the west of the city on Friday 30/11/12 at 7am.
This afternoon there was a demo of the refugees and their supporters through the centre of Amsterdam to the offices of the IND (Immigration and Naturalisation Service). You can watch a short video of the demo here.
250 migrants evicted from squat near Rennes, 27/11/12
This morning at 5am a squat based in a old retirement home near Rennes was evicted. The inhabitants, around 250 sans-papiers including 60 children from various countries including in Eastern Europe and Africa, had lived in the squat since May. The prefecture has claimed that it will rehouse all the familues.
Protest at ‘voluntary returns’ from Germany to Serbia
Yesterday at Nostorf Horst camp, about an hour away from Hamburg, a bus was chartered to deport 50 Roma to Serbia.
Those deported said that they had been put under great pressure to sign ‘voluntary return’ agreements as soon as they had arrived in Germany.
A group of around 50 activists went to the camp to protest about the deportation but were unable to stop the bus from leaving.
Deportee assaulted on Tunisair plane at Lyon airport, 10/11/12
On Saturday 10 November passengers on a Tunisair flight from Lyon to Tunis witnessed a deportee being assualted by two guards. After 15 minutes, following vociferous protests from the passengers, the would-be-deportee was taken off the flight.
Demo against mass deportation to Serbia at Duesseldorf airport, 13/11/12
This Tuesday there will be a demo at Duesseldorf airport against a planned deportation to Serbia.
Vluchtelingen Op Straat look for building for Amsterdam tentcamp migrants
AT5 reports that the organisation ‘Vluchtelingen Op Straat’ (‘Refugees on the street’) are looking for a building to house the migrants currently camping at Osdorp in the west of Amsterdam.
The website states that Vluchtelingen Op Straat will present their plan to Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan today in the hope that he will work with them to find a building. Van der Laan has previously gone on record to say that there are insufficient emergency winter shelter beds for the migrants.
The building, say Vluctelingen Op Straat, will be named ‘Hope House’.
You can watch some interviews with migrants from the tent camp here.
New Dutch coalition government annnounces asylum and immigration policies
On Monday night two Dutch political parties, the VVD and PvdA, announced that they were forming a new coalition government. As part this announcement they outlined their policies on asylum and immigration.
As expected, there will be a ‘kinderpardon’ (children’s pardon): unaccompanied minors and children of asylum seekers who have been in the country for at least 5 years will receive a residency visa when they turn 18.
However, the government wants to criminalise anyone who is in the Netherlands ‘illegally’, such as those without papers. (Read more about this in Dutch here). Residency visas will not be given to those who were previously ‘illegal’ in the Netherlands or to those who have committed fraud.
Furthermore, foreigners who are convicted of a crime can now be deported up to five years after the crime has been committed.
Blockade of detention centre in Brugge/Bruges, 20/10/12
Since 6am this morning, around 50 activists have blockaded the entrance to a closed detention centre in Bruges. They are preventing any deportations from taking place and they say that they intend to stay as long as possible. Read the press release and updates here on Brussels Indymedia.
You can watch a YouTube video of the action here.