Update about ongoing raids and deportations in Morocco

Nieuws, gepost door: nn op 13/02/2015 02:08:55

Wanneer: 13/02/2015 - 21:06

Update from the ongoing deportations of migrants from the externalized border of the European Union

from:
beatingborders.wordpress.com/2015/02/12/update-from-the-ongoing-deportations-of-migrants-from-the-externalized-border-of-the-european-union/

On Tuesday, 10th of February, the Moroccan authorities launched a large-scale operation to arrest and deport hundreds of migrants. They tormed the Gurugu mountain, destroying and burning the camp, and arresting around a thousand people who were than brought into a makeshift camp. Their photo, prints and nationalities were recorded. In the course of the day, between 20 and 30 busses left for Southern Morocco and distributed the Gurugu detainees around a dozen different cities: Errachidia, Goulmina, El Jadida, Safi, Kelaat, Sraghna, Chichaoua, Tiznit, Essaouira, Youssoufia, Agadir. Up until now, most people remained imprisoned in different houses, they are given food and clothing. Although they are being told that they will be freed soon, and that the Moroccan state is only taking their ID in order to regularize them, it seems more like the Gurugu inhabitants will be deported.
Several meetings with different ambassadors have been taking place over the last couple of days, and food, shelter and clothing has been provided before deportations of migrants in the past. It may be difficult to speculate, but if the Moroccan authorities just wanted to to drive people away from the border, they would not bother keeping them
for over 2 days now.

Instead, they might be preparting to deport into people’s countries of origin or even to Mauretania, as some claim. This morning, the police raided Gurugu again, filling another 4 busses with detainees and burning any left-overs of the camps. The cameroonian camp is now completly destroyed, with hardly anybody left, but also the other communities have suffered severely, and hundreds of their brothers have been deported.

In this operation, Morocco has violated many of its own laws, including the arrest of minors, the absence of individual case-by-case evaluation, or the detention of people over more than 24h without giving any reason.
Yet, the Moroccan authorities try to maintain their human rights’ facade: the ministerial delegate Charki Draiss showed photos at a press conference of migrants being given food and being well cared-for. The government’s states that it doesn’t want to tolerate any more migrants’ camps near the EU borders. It is not difficult to guess who is behind this large-scale operation: It seems that the European Union has paid Morocco 10M Euros to conduct parts of the operation, especially a large-scale intervention of the Red Cross only few days before the deportations. In early February, the Red Cross generously handed out food to the Gurugu inhabitants, but they had to fill in a questionnaire.
The migrants now believe that these questionnaire and the accompanying visits to the forest served to gather information about the number and nationalities of the Gurugu migrants.
It seems evident that this whole operation is just another disdainful attempt to comply with the EU’s murderous border regime.

Meanwhile, it is not clear yet whether the Moroccan government will extend the operation to other forest camps or migrant quarters in Northern Morocco. Police have been seen around other forests in the Nador area (e.g. Boringo), but up until now, the situation seems calm.
In Tangier, however, several dozen people have been arrested around a market area, they are now being held in the Miznana commissariat. Again, it is unsure whether this is part of a larger strategy or just random intimidation and harassment.

Whatever the case, we will continue to support any person who is harassed or arrested because they are claiming one of their most basic human rights: the freedom of movement.

Big thanks to everybody who has already supported morally or materially!
Spread the information, spread the call-out for support and fight against fortress Europe!!!

STOP THE WAR AGAINST MIGRANTS!
FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT FOR ALL!
NO BORDERS!

February 13, 2015 at 10:24

UPDATE: this morning, the police conducted raids in Boringo, a forest camp full with women and children. These people are waiting for boats, and are usually not harassed by the police. The forest is not that known and usually not in the media, which is why it seems the Moroccan authorities are getting quite serious about actually evicting the Northern Moroccan camps.



Wie: 
nn

Posted on February 11, 2015 by beatingborders

CALL OUT – Urgent need of funds in order to support the wounded and those being deported after this mornings police raids in Gurugu and Nador

Please spread!!

After this mornings (10.02.15) strike on the outer european border fence of the spanish enclave Melilla (during which 36 people sucessfully managed to enter european territory while around 20 were illegally pushed back through the doors within the fence and handed over to the moroccan auxiliary forces), we recieved news from the migrant camp Gurugu, located in the hills near Beni Enzar, the moroccan border city of Melilla, that a giant police raid in the early morning hours has left most of the camp burnt down to the ground with hundreds of people arrested and at imminent risk of being deported to their home countries.

All this is taking place only one day after the Moroccan home office and the ministry of immigration have announced the complete evacuation of the migrant camps located outside the spanish enclaves Ceuta and Melilla as part of a new partnership agreement between Morocco and the European Union.

According to Caminando Fronteras and other sources around 600 people were arrested and taken to a field by Kariat Arkmane, around 20km outside of Nador. From there we have heard that people are being kept surrounded by police. Their fingerprints and photos are being taken in order to initiate the deportation process. Apparently the moroccan minister has already orderd the diplomats of different embassies to a meeting in order to ask “laisse-passes“, and deport them to their countries. Other sources state the deportations of those arrested to the desert near the Algerian Border in southern Morocco. Events such as the mass deportations to the Algerian-Moroccan desert of 2005 remind us of how lethal these practices are. Among thos arrested in this moment there are many severely injured and in bad condition.

Financial support is urgently needed in order to pay for transport costs and medicine of those wounded as well as rebuilding what has been destroyed, blankets, shelters etc.
If you want to donate something, please contact us at nobordersmorocco@riseup.net.

The fact that this violent attack against migrants on their way to Europe is taking place only 4 days after the one year anniversary of the Tarajal Tragedy, during which the spanish Guardia Civil killed at least 15 people trying to swim into Ceuta, only prooves that the violence and the killing at the outer european border continues. Morocco is left to do the dirty work Spain and the European Union pays them to do: keep people from entering fortress Europe by all means.

STOP THE WAR AGAINST MIGRANTS!
STOP THE VIOLENCE AT THE BORDERS!
SOLIDARITY WITH THE MIGRANTS OF GURUGU AND WHEREVER
FUCK FORTRESS EUROPE

More information:

https://beatingborders.wordpress.com/2015/02/11/call-out-for-support-aft...

http://periodismohumano.com/migracion/marruecos-arrasa-los-campamentos-d...

http://www.eldiario.es/desalambre/Marruecos-advertencia-empezado-desmant...

http://www.abc.es/espana/20150209/abci-rabat-ceuta-melilla-201502092101....

https://twitter.com/helenamaleno



Wie: 
nn

In the last days, the Moroccan state has continued its deportation campaign at the borders of the European Union, trampling on migrants rights and fundamental human freedoms.

Last Friday, 13th of February, the authorities conducted raids in several forests around Nador, in the course of which they arrested around 200 people who had been living in Baquoya, Afra, Bolingo and other places around Nador. Amongst the detainees who were also brought to the camp in Akariat there were several women (some of them pregnant) and children, and several asylum seekers and document holders. Many tents, blankets, people’s belongings and their food has been burned so that the remaining migrants have been forced to hide in the cold, lacking the most basic necessities. Although people are already rebuilding some of the camps, the fear of more state terror remains high. Furthermore, several people have been imprisoned and are accused of human trafficking – another attempt to blame individual migrants instead of the underlying capitalist state-police-mafia-networks.

Although there have been no raids in any other forests or cities in Morocco, the Moroccan state is now in the process of deporting around 1000 people from the Nador forests, including Gurugu. Even after six days, many of the migrants are being kept in makeshift centres around Southern Morocco, security measures are strict, people’s needs (diet, sleeping arrangements, medical care) are not properly met. Nobody is telling the detainees what will happen to them, and why they are being treated like criminals; the stress and insecurity is increasingly destabilising everybody.

At the same time, negotiations have been going on with the embassies of the migrants’ countries of origin. While Senegal and Mali seem willing to “take back” their citizens, Cameroon has refused because of their domestic security crisis. Mauretania, which would be a transit country for deportations to Senegal and Mali, has refused entry to the two busses which Morocco sent southwards on Saturday, which is why the migrants were brought back to the centers.

Morocco justifies these inhuman and completely absurd actions with a human rights discourse which they have probably copied one-to-one from Europe. The eviction of the camps has the purpose of “liberating” the migrants from the grip of smugglers and traffickers. With this line of reasoning, Morocco is reproducing the stereotypes that we are being fed constantly from European governments and mainstream media: The people living in the Moroccan forests are a threat; Djihad, Ebola or Mafia, the reasons are exchangable but the racism remains the same.
Posted on February 17, 2015 by beatingborders

The Moroccan state, however, has not been very happy about any critique. Anybody trying to monitor the deportation campaign is met with repression, people have been intimidated and material confiscated. The AMDH (Association Marocaine des Droits Humains) has been denied access to the camps in Nador, yesterday their offices in Rabat were searched and two journalists have been arrested.

At the same time, the mainstream media in Europe are largely silent about these massive human right abuses carried out in the name of the European Union.

This is why it is our responsability to spread the info and migrants’ voices, and to show solidarity!

STOP THE WAR AGAINST MIGRANTS!
FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT FOR ALL!
NO BORDERS!

For more info:

Twitter @NoBordersMaroc @HelenaMaleno

Video showing the destruction in the Nador forest camps:
From Gurugu: https://vimeo.com/119749824
From Baquoya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37AgHm99CQU&feature=share


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