alex tsiorulin, the 'other' long-term lone demonstrator in parliament square, is often ignored and forgotten by mainstream media. even here, he gets little mention. yesterday he was met at court by immigration officers and removed to colnbrook. his display at the square was cleared yesterday afternoon by police.
alex resting on the morning after police raid the square
alex's remaining placards after socpa raid on 23rd may
alex has been at the corner of parliament square, next to brian haw's display, for several years, like brian, sleeping and living in the square, he has kept a one-man vigil. his protest is anti-zionist. he himself is a russian (his native language), who while living in israel, was persecuted by the israeli authorities for his views. facing a three year prison sentence there for incitement, he sought political asylum here. his case went through a long and protracted process. with the language barrier and his deep suspicion of the legal process, his case was not defended aggressively, and in march 2004, the appeals process ran out and he was deemed an illegal here.
more than two years have gone by since that decision, and the authorities have clearly been aware that he has been living in parliament square. he came under the same legal position as brian haw in that the socpa legislation post-dated his continuous demo, and so could not apply to him until the recent high court decision to allow the government appeal.
in the night-time raid on brian haw's placard site, when 78 police were paid to destroy and remove most of brian's display without warning in the middle of the night, alex's own display was partially removed too. on the day brian was in court facing charges over failing to comply with socpa conditions, alex was in court too. but while brian's case was adjourned on unconditional bail until the 15th july, alex's was given until yesterday, the day that the israeli prime minister swept into parliament accompanied by police, a helicopter, and israeli soldiers. as alex came out of the court room, he was surrounded by immigration officers, who arrested him and took him to charing cross station. at 2pm, police vans turned up at the square and his entire remaining display was cleared away.
supporters at the square were told by police that alex had agreed to be deported to israel and was happy with the decision. knowing this sounded unlikely, they went to charing cross police station, and after frantic phone calls to 14 lawyers, they eventually managed to get an immigration lawyer from freeman's to act for him and through an interpreter on a phone link they discovered that he was terrified of being returned to israel as he would likely face political imprisonment there. the charing cross police had clearly lied - when challenged on this, they said they were only repeating what they had 'been told'.
the authorities were planning to put him on a plane last night, but the new lawyer has managed to postpone that while he reviews the case. the difficulty is that officially all courses of appeal have been exhausted, but previous bad handling of his case and the fact that he faces committal in israel may mean there is a human rights issue to be resolved before he can be removed. he was taken to the the dreaded 'colnbrook' immigration detention centre last night.
more info to follow.
more than two years have gone by since that decision, and the authorities have clearly been aware that he has been living in parliament square. he came under the same legal position as brian haw in that the socpa legislation post-dated his continuous demo, and so could not apply to him until the recent high court decision to allow the government appeal.
in the night-time raid on brian haw's placard site, when 78 police were paid to destroy and remove most of brian's display without warning in the middle of the night, alex's own display was partially removed too. on the day brian was in court facing charges over failing to comply with socpa conditions, alex was in court too. but while brian's case was adjourned on unconditional bail until the 15th july, alex's was given until yesterday, the day that the israeli prime minister swept into parliament accompanied by police, a helicopter, and israeli soldiers. as alex came out of the court room, he was surrounded by immigration officers, who arrested him and took him to charing cross station. at 2pm, police vans turned up at the square and his entire remaining display was cleared away.
supporters at the square were told by police that alex had agreed to be deported to israel and was happy with the decision. knowing this sounded unlikely, they went to charing cross police station, and after frantic phone calls to 14 lawyers, they eventually managed to get an immigration lawyer from freeman's to act for him and through an interpreter on a phone link they discovered that he was terrified of being returned to israel as he would likely face political imprisonment there. the charing cross police had clearly lied - when challenged on this, they said they were only repeating what they had 'been told'.
the authorities were planning to put him on a plane last night, but the new lawyer has managed to postpone that while he reviews the case. the difficulty is that officially all courses of appeal have been exhausted, but previous bad handling of his case and the fact that he faces committal in israel may mean there is a human rights issue to be resolved before he can be removed. he was taken to the the dreaded 'colnbrook' immigration detention centre last night.
more info to follow.
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some photos and a correction
14.06.2006 16:07
small correction to original article. although alex was supposed to be deported last night, the reason why that didn't happen is not known - instead he was sent to colnbrook. the solicitor from freeman's simply filled in various forms with alex and the deportation has not been officially stopped yet. any action may actually be too late.
rikki
years
14.06.2006 21:37
how many years has alex been there?
london activist
Alex's time in the square & the legal problems
14.06.2006 23:27
f.stewart
Re:Alex's time in the square & the legal problems
15.06.2006 07:18
"Any suggestions gratefully received."
I am just brainstorming really because I have no knowledge of the legal issues or deportation...
Investigate or request the authorities investigate what has happened in any other cases in Israel with the same kind of accusations made against Alex and whether it would go against human rights on that basis.
One idea I had a couple of weeks ago is that a GP should be assigned to both Brian and Alex while they are in Parliament Square to look after their health. Maybe speak to a local councillor for the Westminster area. The position for Alex is obviously different now.
Ask for an assessment of Alex's mental health and whether he would cope with the stress of being moved to Israel and whether that would affect the ability of the authorities to deport him??
On the issue of any hunger strikes those people should consider whether they may be more useful to the world by staying alive (and healthy) to help campaign against the current wars and the kind of injustice helped along by the bare-faced lies from the authories such as described above.
Brian B
Re: Forgotten Protestor
16.06.2006 18:36
Congratulations to Indymedia for putting up so much info so quickly, including the rather poignant photo of the two ducks on Alex's patch.
I think it's important to put what's happened to Alex into some sort of context. The most astounding aspect of his sudden removal is that he lost his case to remain in this country two years ago, but had been left to rot for the last two years. The British wanted rid of Alex but for some reason had not been prepared to deport him back to Israel (squeamishness on their part?) Why is it only now that the authorities have decided to take such swift and callous action? I think that it is partly to do with the new SOCPA law, which obviously gave them an opportunity for harassing Alex. I would couple this with the recent visit to Britain of the new Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert. I suspect that the opportunity to raise the issue afforded by this visit was seen as too good to be missed. Discussions were probably held not at prime ministerial level but at a more junior diplomatic level. I am sure that Olmert will not have been happy that a long running anti-Zionist demonstration was going on outside the British parliament and so will probably have been open to any suggestion that might lead to its removal. Perhaps Blair got some kind of assurance from Olmert about the future treatment of Alex which made it easier to countenance sending him back to Israel (something along the lines of the "memorandums of understanding" that he seems to be so keen on?)
I really hope that the efforts to stop Alex being deported bear fruit. I would like to propose that a group be set up to campaign on his behalf. Can he be visited at Colnbrook?
If he is deported we should all go to the Israeli embassy and make it clear that there are people who are concerned about Alex and who will not just let him disappear into the Israeli prison system.
Questions should also be asked in Parliament. For example, why was he allowed to rot on the Square for two years and why his sudden removal now? Was a deal reached with the Israelis?
From my conversations with Alex, his most fervent wish is to join a self-sufficient religious community, where he can live a wholesome life free from the interference of ANY state.
Another worrying aspect of all this is the impact it will have on Brian. They are slowly but surely closing in on him. I am sure Blair is dreaming of the day when Brian and his "unsightly" pictures of war damaged infants are removed so he can once again sweep through the gates of Parliament without being forced to dwell, if only for a fleeting moment, on his part in the deaths of so many innocent men, women and children.
Pedro
e-mail:
hoop@fsmail.net
Alex at Colnbrook
17.06.2006 16:07
There are three categories under which someone is booked in at Colnbrook - Arrest, Short term, and Long term. A reliable source told me that Alex arrived there under 'arrest' and up to last night had not been transferred anywhere else. He was committed to Colnbrook, I understand, under the name of: ABDALIA AZELDIN TSIORULIN. The 'abdalia' should be 'abdallah', but police documents never seemed to get it right (some of them have his surname put down as 'abdallah').
The phone at Colnbrook occasionally seems switched onto a rather strange answerphone, as if it was recorded in a very public place, and the switchboard operator, when you get her/him, appears keen to deter anyone going through to someone on remand. The numbers are 020 8607 5250 and 020 8607 5272.
Regarding his other problems -- he was after all up at Bow Street on the 13th June to confirm his plea of 'not guilty', with the hearing adjourned to September due to, I believe, the lack of a Russian interpreter at the court that day -- the solicitors acting for him in the so-called 'criminal' matter don't know where he is as of yesterday -- as far as they were concerned it was now out of their hands. Some hands!!! I have a letter to deliver to him and so shall try to go down tomorrow. Sites for information about Colnbrook plus directions are www.serco.com (what a wonderful place it is) &
The ducks were regular visitors to Alex from ?St.James Park, always at the same time, each day, except during ?duckling season, he told me. Alex fed them bread, which he kept aside for them. They seemed unhappy about receiving bread from myself and made agitated clacking noises as they looked and wandered forlornly about his absent site.
f.stewart
Alex at Colnbrook (further info)
17.06.2006 17:11
f.stewart
Alex Tsiorulin, moved within Colnbrook
23.06.2006 23:01
F.Stewart
Attempts to visit Alex Tsiorulin blocked at Colnbrook
25.06.2006 23:51
f.stewart
Amnesty International Contact emails
03.07.2006 17:16
Main London Office
tgrhyjhnth
Tsiorulin moved inside Colnbrook
05.07.2006 10:43
F.Stewart
Alex Tsiorulin 'removed'
22.07.2006 22:29
F.Stewart