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Lampedusa's burning - Should have been the Italian embassy?

one of noborders | 26.02.2009 23:17 | Migration | World

A small, loud protest was today held at the Italian embassy in London in solidarity with the migrant prisoners and residents of the Lampedusa island, Italy, which is being turned into one big concentration camp to protect the southern borders of Fortress Europe (see  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/02/422754.html). With two megaphones and leaflets, the handful of protesters from No Borders, Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!, Global Women's Strike and All African Women's Group managed to draw some attention from neighbours, passers-by and, of course, cops.








Some highlights from the protest:

- Beside reading out the leaflet and the usual chants ('No borders, no nations, stop deportations'; 'Asylum rights are human rights'...), protesters shout repeatedly: 'Italian government, racist government, Italian government, fascist government', which sounds much nicer in Italian.

- The manager of the next-door building, which's empty and being decorated, objects to hanging banners on his wall. Having been ignored, he crosses the street, takes out a small digital camera (or one of those expensive mobile phones) and takes some pictures of the protesters.

- Police arrive after about an hour and try to end the protest, claiming at first it doesn't have permission from the Westminister Council, and then that it might distress neighbours.

- Two cops are arguing whether it's Section 4, 12, or 14 of the Public Order Act that the protest is breaching. No, Section 2. No, no, 4...

- Another cop arrives and asks a protester to give him a leaflet. When this refuses, the cop applies Section 44 of the Terrorism Act and wants to search him and take his details. Why? Apparently because he's leafleting outside a 'prominent government building'. The situation is de-escalated by another protester and the cop gets his leaflet.

- One protester comments on the cops' outnumbering the protesters: If your protest is small, don't worry, the police will make sure it is visible.

one of noborders

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27.02.2009 10:24

I did not think it was invisible, we made a nice bit of noise if anything. If some more poeple turned up it would have been better though. We have to allow it was advertised quite late. Has been a problem in London recently, mobilising used to be much easier...Some of the pickets at Mexican embassy in support of the people in Oaxaca weren't that much larger - and got much more cops than the ones that walked on us by chance- true they were very cocky. Maybe next time I get myself arrested in the name of international solidarity, since cops seem to attract more attention than the issues we are trying to highlight...I am so tired even to hear talking about cops, unless they do something really remarkable can't we just ignore them? May piss them off more.

Chiara