Activists staged a small solidarity demonstration outside the Dutch embassy yesterday in solidarity with hunger strikers at Rotterdam Airport Detention Centre who have been protesting their unlawful detention and ill-treatment since the beginning of May.
For a last minute action the demo was surprisingly effective with flyers handed out to many passers by on London's busy Hyde Park Gate (opposite the park). Two embassy men also came out to say hello and 'pass on our leaflets to the Hague', but we'll see what happens with that. On a more practical level they did ask if there was anything immediate they could do to for us but refused to stretch as far as a free cup of tea! Perhaps their effectiveness in dealing with the hunger strikers situation can be inferred from that...
In the last month, Dutch activists have staged protests on the steps of the Hague approximately once a week in support of those being held in unlawful detention including a 48 hour hunger strike in the pouring rain! Yesterday's action in the UK pales in comparison to the amazing work that people in the Netherlands have been doing and the importance of this most recent wave of hunger strikes in resisting brutal migration law changes and right wing reactionary politics towards asylum seekers. We will continue to support both hunger strikers and No Borders activists in the Netherlands in any way possible.
More info here:
http://libcom.org/blog/refugees-resisting-state-oppression-solidarity-activism-nethelands-hunger-strikes-more-1905
http://deportatieverzet.nl/alweer-zware-mishandeling-en-onthouden-medische-zorg-in-dc-rotterdam/#more-524
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2013/05/509312.html
For a last minute action the demo was surprisingly effective with flyers handed out to many passers by on London's busy Hyde Park Gate (opposite the park). Two embassy men also came out to say hello and 'pass on our leaflets to the Hague', but we'll see what happens with that. On a more practical level they did ask if there was anything immediate they could do to for us but refused to stretch as far as a free cup of tea! Perhaps their effectiveness in dealing with the hunger strikers situation can be inferred from that...
In the last month, Dutch activists have staged protests on the steps of the Hague approximately once a week in support of those being held in unlawful detention including a 48 hour hunger strike in the pouring rain! Yesterday's action in the UK pales in comparison to the amazing work that people in the Netherlands have been doing and the importance of this most recent wave of hunger strikes in resisting brutal migration law changes and right wing reactionary politics towards asylum seekers. We will continue to support both hunger strikers and No Borders activists in the Netherlands in any way possible.
More info here:
http://libcom.org/blog/refugees-resisting-state-oppression-solidarity-activism-nethelands-hunger-strikes-more-1905 http://deportatieverzet.nl/alweer-zware-mishandeling-en-onthouden-medische-zorg-in-dc-rotterdam/#more-524 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2013/05/509312.html
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