Newcastle Refugees Join Yarls Wood Hunger Strike - Solidarity Protest Newcastle
TCAR (Tyneside Community Action for Refugees) | 09.05.2007 00:42 | Anti-racism | Migration | Social Struggles
Families from Newcastle are on hunger strike today as they await deportation in Yarls Wood Immigration Detention Centre. 200 women who began a protest last Thursday against new punitive measures – including confiscation of mobile phones and lock-in from 7pm-7am – were joined on Tuesday by another 100 families, including members of Tyneside Community Action for Refugees.
Those involved include asylum seekers from Russia, Kosovo, and many countries in Africa and South America. Hunger strikers we spoke to wanted to emphasise the unity amongst those inside. A hunger striker from Turkey had this to say:
‘Everybody they want to be free we didn't kill nobody, we didn't hurt noone. We are not eating. When we be free then we can start eating. Everybody came together, we all decided, nobody is happy. Because everybody has their problems, nobody wants to help us, some people tried to kill themselves.
‘I have been here 10 years, I pay all my tax, I have no problem with police, no criminal record but i am in prison, i don't know why i am here. My father and mother are here. He is 64 and he has leg problems but the doctor doesn't do anything. Even the kids, there are many families here but nobody comes to talk to us and listen.’
One of the hunger strikers is Ismail Koz, who was snatched from his home in Cowgate, Newcastle on 14th April. He and and his wife Gulay’s children, 4½ year old Kabar and 11 month old Ozgurcan, are with them in detention. Both children have health problems, and are not eating or sleeping properly. Kabar is bleeding from his penis, but the detention centre doctor says there is nothing he can do, and the family are being refused access to the hospital. Ismail said: ‘I want to take my son to hospital but I am locked in this place and I can’t. I’ve been locked in here for almost a month.’
Other members of Tyneside Community Action for Refugees (TCAR) will be demonstrating today in Newcastle in solidarity with the Yarls Wood protestors, and against the deportation of the Akdogan family, inlcuding their 9 year old disabled son, from Cowgate to Turkey on Friday. Members of the family and their neighbours and supporters have collected hundreds of petition signatures in the last week against their deportation. On Monday TCAR activists were harassed by police as they collected signatures in the centre of Newcastle, and threatened with arrest if they did not provide their names and addresses. The family and neighbours will be handing the completed petitions in to Home Office representatives at the demonstration this afternoon (Wednesday 9th May). The demonstration will take place at 4pm outside Government Offices North East at Gallowgate, Newcastle.
Contact:
The Akdogan family, the Koz family and the Yarls Wood hunger strikers are available to talk to press. Please arrange contact through TCAR press liason. Contact:
tynesidecarn@yahoo.co.uk
‘Everybody they want to be free we didn't kill nobody, we didn't hurt noone. We are not eating. When we be free then we can start eating. Everybody came together, we all decided, nobody is happy. Because everybody has their problems, nobody wants to help us, some people tried to kill themselves.
‘I have been here 10 years, I pay all my tax, I have no problem with police, no criminal record but i am in prison, i don't know why i am here. My father and mother are here. He is 64 and he has leg problems but the doctor doesn't do anything. Even the kids, there are many families here but nobody comes to talk to us and listen.’
One of the hunger strikers is Ismail Koz, who was snatched from his home in Cowgate, Newcastle on 14th April. He and and his wife Gulay’s children, 4½ year old Kabar and 11 month old Ozgurcan, are with them in detention. Both children have health problems, and are not eating or sleeping properly. Kabar is bleeding from his penis, but the detention centre doctor says there is nothing he can do, and the family are being refused access to the hospital. Ismail said: ‘I want to take my son to hospital but I am locked in this place and I can’t. I’ve been locked in here for almost a month.’
Other members of Tyneside Community Action for Refugees (TCAR) will be demonstrating today in Newcastle in solidarity with the Yarls Wood protestors, and against the deportation of the Akdogan family, inlcuding their 9 year old disabled son, from Cowgate to Turkey on Friday. Members of the family and their neighbours and supporters have collected hundreds of petition signatures in the last week against their deportation. On Monday TCAR activists were harassed by police as they collected signatures in the centre of Newcastle, and threatened with arrest if they did not provide their names and addresses. The family and neighbours will be handing the completed petitions in to Home Office representatives at the demonstration this afternoon (Wednesday 9th May). The demonstration will take place at 4pm outside Government Offices North East at Gallowgate, Newcastle.
Contact:
The Akdogan family, the Koz family and the Yarls Wood hunger strikers are available to talk to press. Please arrange contact through TCAR press liason. Contact:
tynesidecarn@yahoo.co.uk
TCAR (Tyneside Community Action for Refugees)
e-mail:
tynesidecarn@yahoo.co.uk
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