Newcastle Asylum Protests Continue Despite Police Intimidation.

Matthew Ridings | 15.12.2006 13:55 | Anti-racism | Migration | Repression

Newcastle-based asylum rights organization Tyneside Community Action for Refugees continue to organize protests in support of the protesters in Harmondsworth and Yarl’s Wood detention centres and to end the detention of children.

On Saturday, 9th December a group of around 30-40 TCAR members gathered near the Monument in Newcastle city centre to chant and shout slogans. The chanting was led by young Turkish & Kurdish asylum seekers who shouted "Stop Locking Up Children" at the top of their voices to the amazement of all the Christmas shoppers.

Hundreds of leaflets were distributed to the general public informing them of the current abysmal conditions in Harmondsworth and other detention centres, and the need to support asylum seekers in their struggle. Several people stopped & expressed their astonishment at the racist behaviour of the Home Office. The people on the demo were buoyed by their success and there was lots of spontaneous singing, clapping & dancing.

Unfortunately the end of the demo was marred by the heavy-handed intervention of the local police force, who parked their van in front of the demo and tried to intimidate the protestors. The protestors were informed that they were required to move further away from the Newcastle United shop but after they had done so they were then told that they were obstructing the highway, despite the fact that cars & people could pass easily by the demo.

An aggressive police officer then proceeded to arrest a protestor who was filming his conversation with a local solicitor. The solicitor had been defending the demonstrators right to protest. The police officer then forced the protestor to erase the film of the conversation from his mobile phone as a precondition for his release.

As all this was going on several members of the public stopped and were extremely supportive. The oppressive actions of the police only served to increase the impact of the demonstration.

NO TO DETENTION! NO TO FORCED DEPORTATION! STOP LOCKING UP CHILDREN!

For more information please contact TCAR:

tynesidecarn@yahoo.co.uk

Matthew Ridings
e-mail: tynesidecarn@yahoo.co.uk

Additions

Unlawful action

17.12.2006 22:59

The police action forcing the video to be wiped is a blatant abuse of police powers by the local constabulary. The person who was arrested with the camera should put in a complaint and demand that it is properly investigated. Otherwise the police are going to think that they can get away with this in future and up the harassment.

fB

freebeagles
Homepage: http://www.freebeagles.org

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15.12.2006 14:08

Mario Manuel de la Peña Martinez was born on Dec. 28, 1971, in Weehaken, New Jersey. Even though he was born in the United States to Cuban parents, he was deeply devoted to Cuba. A practicing Catholic, he was an active member of his parish at the Church of Saint Agatha in Miami. At the age of 24, Mario joined the humanitarian non-profit organization, Brothers to the Rescue, later flying on a total of 95 search missions to rescue Cuban rafters and take food and clothing to refugees detained at the Bahamas. In 1995, Mario joined the Directorio and immediately became a part of the team that was creating and hosting radio programs, such as Alternativa and Para la Juventud ("For the Youth"), for transmission to Cuba. He also took part in Operation Boitel, traveling in 1995 to Central America to share information with these nations about the Cuban reality.

On February 24, 1996, while he piloted a small civil aircraft in international airspace, both to rescue Cuban rafters and to show solidarity with the dissidents who were organizing Concilio Cubano, scheduled to take place that day, his plane and another Brothers to the Rescue plane were shot down by Cuban MiGs. As a result of this criminal act, Mario, Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, and Armando Alejandre were killed.

Despite his young age, Mario left the legacy of a life dedicated to the disinterested service to others. His vocation as an authentic activist for a free Cuba constitutes an example of what the Directorio wants and aims to achieve for a Cuba of the future. After taking training classes of nonviolent civic resistance, Mario said: "Nonviolence is not an instrument of convenience, but a way of living in which one has to believe."

Mario Manuel de la Peña embodies, in an exemplary manner, the Directorio's work philosophy, directed, above all, at rescuing the dignity of the human being. He voiced this idea himself when he said, in a genuine expression of his values, "I don't believe in capitalism or communism because the real enemy is injustice."

cuban