After spontaneous protests on board against an ongoing deportation,
yesterday's Air France flight from Paris with destination Bamako in Mali
was ordered to return by the airline. Eight activists of the "caravan
for freedom of movement and fair development" as well as other
passengers that had participated in the protest were arrested, and are
now awaiting the next flight.
yesterday's Air France flight from Paris with destination Bamako in Mali
was ordered to return by the airline. Eight activists of the "caravan
for freedom of movement and fair development" as well as other
passengers that had participated in the protest were arrested, and are
now awaiting the next flight.
Protest in the sky!!
Paris/Berlin 20.01.2011
The first group of activists of the "caravan for freedom of movement and
fair development" boarded their flight to Bamako this Thursday in Paris.
On the same plane was a man in bonds, accompanied by police, who was
to be deported to Mali. Soon after departure, 17 passengers left their
seats and refused to sit down in solidarity with the man, who was
showing resistance against the deportation!
As a consequence of their joined action, the pilot returned to
Charles-de-Gaulle airport, and had eight of the activists and other
participating passengers arrested.
Security officers attacked a man, father of a family, who had documented
the course of the events with the camera of his mobile phone.
According to malian activists from Bamako, another attempt to force the
deportation of that same man equally failed later that day.
Instead of carrying passengers, Air France obviously prefers to become
the henchman of the french border police, relentlessly deporting persons
against their will. Already this week there were two departures from
Paris delayed because of protests against deportations: Last friday,
passenger stood up against a deportation in a flight scheduled to Douala
in Cameroon -- four of them were removed from the plane and had their
identities taken by the police. On Wednesday, several passengers refused
to take their seats in an Royal Air Maroc flight, until the plane
started one and a half hours later without the two prisonerers that were
to be deported.
Employees of Air France are taking a firm stand against deportation
flights by the airline since 2007, up to now without success.
The last activists were released in the middle of the night, long
after their plane had departed. While the activists must expect further
juridical consequences of their courageous action against the brutality
of deportation flights, an enthusiastic welcome by the Malian activists
in Bamako is certain.
After being released late in the night, all of the activists finally got
new flights to bamako by air france today afternoon.
We have to thank a lot of activists in france, who supported them! We
made some good experiences: we learned how strong the daily resistance
against deportations is in france and we learned how quick this
mailinglist functions - it took less than 5 minutes to get support!
www.afrique-europe-interact.net
There is the video from inside the airplane:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qodrl42gwSw
Paris/Berlin 20.01.2011
The first group of activists of the "caravan for freedom of movement and
fair development" boarded their flight to Bamako this Thursday in Paris.
On the same plane was a man in bonds, accompanied by police, who was
to be deported to Mali. Soon after departure, 17 passengers left their
seats and refused to sit down in solidarity with the man, who was
showing resistance against the deportation!
As a consequence of their joined action, the pilot returned to
Charles-de-Gaulle airport, and had eight of the activists and other
participating passengers arrested.
Security officers attacked a man, father of a family, who had documented
the course of the events with the camera of his mobile phone.
According to malian activists from Bamako, another attempt to force the
deportation of that same man equally failed later that day.
Instead of carrying passengers, Air France obviously prefers to become
the henchman of the french border police, relentlessly deporting persons
against their will. Already this week there were two departures from
Paris delayed because of protests against deportations: Last friday,
passenger stood up against a deportation in a flight scheduled to Douala
in Cameroon -- four of them were removed from the plane and had their
identities taken by the police. On Wednesday, several passengers refused
to take their seats in an Royal Air Maroc flight, until the plane
started one and a half hours later without the two prisonerers that were
to be deported.
Employees of Air France are taking a firm stand against deportation
flights by the airline since 2007, up to now without success.
The last activists were released in the middle of the night, long
after their plane had departed. While the activists must expect further
juridical consequences of their courageous action against the brutality
of deportation flights, an enthusiastic welcome by the Malian activists
in Bamako is certain.
After being released late in the night, all of the activists finally got
new flights to bamako by air france today afternoon.
We have to thank a lot of activists in france, who supported them! We
made some good experiences: we learned how strong the daily resistance
against deportations is in france and we learned how quick this
mailinglist functions - it took less than 5 minutes to get support!
www.afrique-europe-interact.net
There is the video from inside the airplane:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qodrl42gwSw 
