They just went live: two new videos, one about the action day against Pagani prison, the other about the Frontex action day. They were actually supposed to come online earlier (apologies, esp. to the cutters), but there were problems with the video format. In the end, ffmpeg and ogg/theora saved us.
Noborder Pagani Action Day
Noborder Harbour Action
This came from people still in Mytilini (slightly edited):
92 new minors arrived in Mitilini yesterday and where brought to Pagani. That means 140 minors and around 500 people all together are detained in Pagani at this stage.
Two days ago all refugees from one cell refused to return into the cell. But after a while they where forced to do so. Unfortunately there where not more infos about it and noone knew while this happend.
People say that every now and then the prisoners scream FREEDOM and AZADI.
A newspaper is being prepared about the noborder and the other actions around it and more local news to be distributed widely and to be the beginning for an open discussion
in town and further campaigning.The Frontex boat is still not around. [It might actually have left]
Local people told us that many did not know or did not hear about the actions and they asked for more information. The interest is big to know what they missed.
And the sky is grey since two days.
In the meanwhile, we finally got around to include a form for signing our Dublin-II call. Since the whole idea with signing through the comment function didn’t work so well, we adjusted and now invite you again to support the cause.
There is actually movement on the Dublin-II issue, at least in Germany. The highest court i.e. the constitutional court, ruled yesterday that they would decide on a case brought forward by an Iraqi refugee in Germany. Since he had been registered in Greece before, the german authorities wanted to deport him to Greece so that he could seek asylum there, in accordance with Dublin II. This deportation was now stopped by the constitutional court, and they will have a hearing on the issue.
Some activists went to Pagani and learnt that there is a new hungerstrike on. 47 minors are on hungerstrike, and four are not even drinking. They don’t receive any medical support. Shut down Pagani!
update 4.9.09 A lot has happened. The hunger strike in Pagani is still on, and as reported above, some people even took to a thirst strike. There was a solidarity action at the detention centre yesterday. What is really bad is that they still incarcerate women with babies in Pagani, as you can see on the pictures from yesterday, and the open camp at the airport will be closed tomorrow. So it seems that the authorities really do get back to business as usual. We will not accept this, for sure. In the meanwhile, there is a lot YOU can do. Our video Voices from Inside Pagani has been shown on several TV stations, we know of both German state TV channels, the Dutch TV and CNN (but they always falsly claim that a human rights organisation put the video online. Of course it was noborder). Indeed, the situation in Pagani made news globally, and the heat is still on. You can help by making a protest in your city at the Greek embassy or consulate (if there is), like our friends in Wellington, New Zealand (!) did. You can also follow our email campaign.
In the meanwhile, the Frontex boat from Romania has left, and has been replaced by some military style outfits, having even a special “Operation Poseidon” t-shirt. Last time, they were seen controlling (quite brutally) people that take the ferry to Athens (sic). So there is two conclusions you can take from that: either that Frontex is really doing much more than policing the borders, also starting to take their actions into Schengen mainland, or you are of the impression that Europe is one big border anyway.
Today, it was noborder’s action day against the practices of the coast guard and their support by the European Border Agency Frontex. At present, Frontex is here in Lesvos with one ship. We already managed to drive them away once, today, they retreated to the open sea and set anchor there. It it too obvious that they couldn’t accept out decent challenge, they seem to prefer to hunt migrants at night.
Today in the port of Mitilini, Lesvos a demonstration was held concerning the refugees recently released from the detention centre in Pagani with no means to support themselves. A symbolic blockade took place to show that while holidaymakers come and go freely, many migrants are trapped on Lesvos in a situation of complete destitution. Leaflets (pdf: gr, en) were distributed to hundreds of passing tourists and locals in several languages explaining the situation the migrants are facing.
This action was a reaction to the dismissive release of a group of 38 migrants from the Pagani detention centre on Thurday. The plenary of the Noborder camp decided not only to attempt to meet the basic needs of the migrants by inviting them to come to the noborder camp but also to make their situation visible to the local population and to increase pressure on the local authorities to provide a real solution.
This article about the practices and strategies of Frontex concerning the European sea borders was published in the brochure Frontex – Widersprüche im erweiterten Grenzraum by the “Informationsstelle Militarisierung” in German. Here is a translated version without the references included in the original article.
Frontex in the Mediterranean – Of Grey areas and legalisations of a different kind
The demonstration took place in the late afternoon. The route was from the center to the harbor, where the demonstration stopped to express loud and clear, and also written the disagreement with Frontex and the greek coast guard.
Normally Frontex and the greek coast guard have their landing here:
Frontex boat leaves Mytilini habor, fast and almost without light. Only one dim little light signalizes the present of the boat.
As the night passes by, while the Ouzu circulates and the people are celebrating, the greek coast guard is sneaking out of the harbour: a ghost ship, leaving like criminals. Two hours before, the Frontex ship left fully illuminated. You might call it a role play: Europe having a clean slate and Greece…
noborder09lesvos clandestina.org schengen visa “dangle” Calais Migrant Solidarity birds of immigrants