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Lesvos Noborder Camp van start
All included - 26.08.2009 13:36
Het Lesvos Noborder Camp is gister officieel van start gegaan en heeft reeds over de 500 deelnemers. Hopelijk volgen er snel meer stukjes van mensen ter plaatse. Voor nu een korte samenvatting van de geplaatste berichten op  http://lesvos09.antira.info
Het Griekse eiland Lesvos is een transitiepunt voor vluchtelingen uit landen als Afghanistan, Iran en Irak op hun tocht naar West-Europa. Na een overtocht over de Aegeïsche Zee, waarbij gevaarlijk gehinderd door Frontex, stuiten ze in Lesvos op de Griekse autoriteiten. Deze laatste berucht om het meervoudig schenden van mensenrechten en de schandalige toestanden in haar detentiecentra.
Het noborderkamp zal gedurende een week een plek bieden voor educatie en uitwisseling en, bovenal, voor directe acties tegen Frontex, tegen de detentiecentra, en voor de vrijheid van beweging voor iedereen.
Al tijdens de opbouw van het kamp vonden er acties plaats om de 150 minderjarige hongerstakers in het nabije Pagani detentiecentrum te ondersteunen. Vandaag kwam het nieuws dat een 200 mensen worden vrij gelaten uit deze meer dan overvolle gevangenis. Het betreft hier met name families, vrouwen en kinderen. Zij zullen tijdelijk worden ondergebracht in een ander gebouw waar ze enige vrijheid van beweging zullen genieten. Een "white paper" geeft ze voor 30 dagen een semi-legale status. Dit mag een eerste succes genoemd worden maar acties gaan door tot deze bajes geheel gesloten wordt.
zie deze twee videos gemaakt in het Pagani detentiecentrum:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP2yT6EjBXo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3oAo6cUkFc
Frontex: The Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOuFo5egBqE
en verder:
http://lesvos09.antira.info
http://noborder09lesvos.blogspot.com
http://allincluded.nl
geen mens is illegaal!
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| aanvullingen | | demo vrijdag | thuisblijver - 29.08.2009 02:00
Op twitter (ja vraag mij ook niet waarom) kan je de laatste nieuws van de demo van vrijdag vanuit het camp naar het Pagani detention centre nabij het stadje Mytilini lezen.
http://twitter.com/noborderlesvos
Allemaal erg korte berichten waaruit valt op te maken dat honderden mensen by Pagani hebben gedemonstreerd. Eerst mocht de demo niet by Pagani in de buurt komen, maar na heel wat onderhandelingen mocht een kleine delegatie uiteindelijk naar binnen om aldaar de erbarmelijke toestanden waar te nemen. Daarna is de demo verder gegaan, stad Mytilini in, onderweg worden flyers uitgedeeld en verschijnen strijdbare graffiti op de muren.
| | 180 ama vrijgelaten | nn - 29.08.2009 13:27
het eerste succes van het kamp is binnen!
Er is een open kamp geopend waar migranten worden opgevangen, tot nu toe zijn hier 180 AMA's naar toe gebracht, voornamelijk vrouwen met kinderen. Het noborder-kamp juicht dit toe als eerste stap maar blijft bj haar eis van sluiting van Pagani en alle andere detentiecentra
aan 22 andere migranten werden reispapieren verstrekt.
Een demo op vrijdag slaagde er in om een delegatie binnen in Pagani te krijgen terwijl de rest van de demo de toegangsweg naar de bajes blokkeerde, er wordt binnen gefilmd door pers...
hierna is de demo nog de stad in gegaan
| | Today in Pagani - report from Lesvos | noborder lesvos mediacentre - 29.08.2009 23:23
Saturday 29 august 2009
This is happening right now (14pm greek time): Refugees detained in Pagani have broken the locks of the gates and are out in the yard, so still inside Pagani. They refuse to get back into their cells and demand their immediate release. Outside are 50 noborders and counting. We’ll keep you updated.
It is clearer now what will happen. Some 100 people were released today, and altogether, the local authorities bought 500 ferry tickets for Tuesday. So that amount of people will be set free. We will report further details tomorrow.
During the day, noborder activists managed to enter the yard of Pagani, uniting with the refugees. However, later, they were again pushed out by riot police, but fortunately, no confrontation arose. However, some people were injured.
“The passion for freedom is stronger than any prison!”
Full report
A negotiation team with lawyers and other delegates from the noborder lesvos 09 met early this morning with the Prefect of Lesbos, the Chief of the North Aegean Police, and a representative of the UNHCR. This meeting was a continuation of the negotiations enforced yesterday when noborder lesvos 09 mobilised a big demonstration near Pagani, to again demand the immediate release of all prisoners, the closure of Pagani detention centre and the abolition of detention altogether.
Todays negotiations resulted in the release of 23 detained families (women with children and their husbands, the latter being a tough issue in the negotiations) and the release of approximately 100 refugees who had already been issued their 'white papers' last week. The 'white papers' concern the documents issued by the police, ordering the refugee to leave Greece in 30 days. Without these white papers it is difficult for refugees to travel from Lesvos to Athens.
The families will be released in 'Pikpa', the new 'open' refugee centre near Mytilini airport, that was openened a couple of days ago, after several institutions that inspected Pagani, including the UNHCR, said that its conditions were unacceptable. To host the families, the Greek army was ordered to put up 4 extra tents in Pikpa.
Earlier today within Pagani prison, about 100 refugees managed to escape from their prison to the yard of Pagani, in which they started a hungerstrike, demanding their freedom. Many of the young men who escaped, had been illegally detained in Pagani for many months. Approximately 80 activists from the noborder camp arrived for a solidarity-action at Pagani's gate around 14.00 o'clock. For a couple of hours, the striking refugees and activists talked and shouted slogans together.
When the news came that the families and an extra 100 people would be released, everybody clapped and cheered. About half of the 100 men in the yard were amongst the refugees whom had already been issued their white papers. When a bus arrived, they were soon released out of Pagani's gate, where they joined the noborder activists to talk and smoke cigarettes in freedom.Later the women and children were released out of the prison and a second bus arrived to take them to Pikpa.
Their departure was delayed for some hours because of the fact that the authorities didn't know where to bring the 100 refugees, mainly young Afghan men, with the white papers. The UNHCR pressed the authorities not to bring them to Pikpa, because they want to host only families there. The authorities claimed they had no other facilities to host the 100 men, which was the reason they brought up for not having released them earlier from Pagani, despite issuing their white papers on the 21st of August.
Occupation of the yard
Around 18.00 o'clock the approximately 100 refugees departed in two busses under loud clapping and cheering of the noborder activists and the refugees remaining detained in Pagani. Shortly after, a truck arrived that needed to enter Pagani. As the gates were wide open, some noborder activists entered Pagani's yard, meeting loud applause of the refugees inside the prison. It was a spontaneous action and the number of activists inside Pagani's yard was small. Immediately the police inside Pagani called for back up and informed the activists that riot police were coming. From within the prison, some refugees who had been issued white papers,asked for the activists to leave,as they feared it would endanger their own release. For several other reasons the noborder activists decided to leave the yard and remain outside of Pagani's gate. Soon after, two police cars entered Pagani.
Then another bus arrived and picked up the last group of women and children. Several minutes after the bus left, a group of riot cops arrived from one side of the small street that runs along the Pagani prison. They started pushing the small group of activists out of the street. No confrontation arose. However, some people were injured.
 Website: http://lesvos09.antira.info/
| | ...... | nn - 01.09.2009 20:32
Het vorige verslag van de aktie bij Pagani is onvolledig en incorrect en is ook van het noborders blog afgehaald, hierbij de nieuwe:
We now have an account of a noborder activist who was present: 29th of August at Pagani detention centre: refugees organise hunger strike for release, no-border-activists occupy prison yard
In the afternoon on Saturday, 29th of August, the message reached the no-border-camp that the authorities are planning to release 450 prisoners – mostly families and minors – altogether until Tuesday, 1st of September. Shortly afterwards, there came the news that a group of male refugees had started a hunger strike, demanding that they should also be released and given their “white papers” allowing them to continue their travel to the Greek mainland.
A group of about 50 no-border-activists went to the Pagani detention centre to show their solidarity with the hunger strikers. More than 100 refugees altogether were just being released and entering buses to transport them to the open transit camp next to the Mitilini airport, saying happily good bye to the No-Border-activists. At the same time, some hunger strikers were inside the prison yard after they had managed to get out of the prison cells. Police officers and other people working at the Pagani detention centre were trying to make the hunger strikers go back into the prison cells, blackmailing them that otherwise, the release of women and children could not be continued and thus trying to play the refugees against each other. The hunger strikers finally went back into the prison building.
In this scenario, one Greek lawyer, who, according to local activists, was part of the delegation sent from the no-border-camp, played a role that should be seen highly critical: She tried to convince the hunger strikers to go back into their prison cells and, discussing with activists standing outside the gates, she justified the “necessity” to bring the refugees back into their cells and not to open up the doors and gates of the prison. Her “argument”: The bureaucratic procedure of release takes time, the refugees had no other choice than waiting for this procedure inside prison and opening up all doors and gates would create a dangerous, chaotic situation. This is, in fact, a paternalistic attitude according to which refugees are unable to decide what is good or bad for themselves and thus need to be “handled”, controlled and kept behind bars for their own “protection”, an attitude leading, after all, to collaboration with the institutions of repression.
After a while, one of the two gates to the Prison yard was opened up, because a truck from a company taking care of the toilets at Pagani had to drive in. Some of the activists took their chance and walked easily into the prison yard. The yard quickly filled up with people, without any serious attempt from the police – at this moment, there were still only few police men, no riot cops- to stop the activists. The refugees behind the prison bars were shouting and cheering and the activists went up to them to shake hands and talk with each other.
After the first moments of joy, discussions about what to do next came up. In fact, among the refugees behind the bars as well as among the activists outside, there were some very different opinions: While some were afraid that the occupation of the yard might spoil the ongoing release procedures and thus proposed to go out again, others found it very necessary to stay and to build up more pressure for the release of ALL prisoners at Pagani and for the closure of the detention centre. Again and again, refugees behind the bars shouted slogans like “freedom, freedom” and banged against the doors and windows. Others, in fact, fearing that their planned release might be at stake, tried to convince the activists to walk out again. A woman of “Medecins Sans Frontieres”, apparently working at the detention center, also tried to create confusion by saying that all the detainees would soon get released, but only if the activists stopped their action and left the prison yard. After all, the activists decided to sit down and stay inside the prison yard, but close to the gate. People at the no-border-camp and at the demonstration taking place at Mitilini were called to come for support.
After a short time, a message came that riot cops were approaching the Pagani detention centre. Aware that they were not many and thus not in a really strong position, the majority of the activists decided to leave and finally, all went out. Soon afterwards, a small group of riot cops came to the gate from inside the prison yard and pushed some of the activists further away from the gate, but then drew again to the background. When the police – in this case not the riot cops – tried to pull the gate close, some people tried to block this. The cops beat and kicked against some people with their hands and feet and finally, the gate was shut.
After a while, small groups of new supporter activists reached the place. Shortly after, a group of riot cops came running up the street, pushing people aside and beating some of them with their sticks. In the next moment, the riot cops started heavily beating up people and driving the whole group of activists away from the detention center, forcing them to run away towards the main road. Some people reacted by hurling stones to fight back the police. Several activists got injured by the beatings of the police. After all, many of the activists saw no use in staying longer and risking more confrontation with the police and decided to move away together. The action in Pagani ended with a demonstration to the city centre of Mitilini, with more and more people joining the demo on the way.
After all, in spite of some lack of strength and numbers of people, it was an important sign to occupy the prison yard of the Pagani detention center, to show direct solidarity with the refugees and their struggle for freedom and to make, once again, clear:
The Pagani detention center must be closed!
ALL – and not only some – of the refugees detained at Pagani must be immediately released!
The detention of refugees and migrants must be stopped!
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