Today, 1st of april 005, 50 activists from Naples, Bari and Benevento invaded the Centre for
administrative detention of migrants in Borgo Mezzanone (Foggia-Puglia). At
the moment up to 15 asylum seekers are inmate in the centre. Some of us
managed to interview few of them who are "hosted" in caravans placed within
a yard enclosed by fences. The authorities officially define the place as a
"shelter" centre, but the place is guarded by policeman and inwards and
outwards circulation is actually forbidden. During the summer hundreds of
migrants are normally inmate in the centre. The area of Borgo Mezzanone is
one of the major regions in Italy for agricultural work. Thousands of
migrants work in the fields surrounding the area and the centre of Borgo
Mezzanone play a major role in assuring that they can be deported when
their seasonal job is over.
Next to this premises a real lager has been built and it will be put into
function April 5th. It will "host" asylum seekers waiting for their
application to be processed and migrants waiting to be deported.
The activists managed to break also into the premises of this real "lager"
and to support their action with documentary evidence: two blocks surrounded
by fences 4 meters high have been built, while another circle of fences
encloses the whole area. A police station and an identification centre will
"complement" the structure. The Red Cross which will run the centre has
already opened its offices inside the place. We tried to interview them in
other to get information about the centre but members of the Red Cross tried
also to use physical constraint against the activists and refuse any
collaboration with us. The invasion of the centre was successful even though
the police and the Red Cross tried to prevent it.
Borgo Mezzanone is meant to become one of the most cruel and "efficient"
lager for the detention of migrants and asylum seekers in the South of
Italy, but the campaign to prevent its entry into function will continue.
The action of today was aimed at denouncing the very institution of the
centres for the administrative detention of aliens and we will continue to
violate and trespass these lagers which are built inside and outside Europe.
Today action in Borgo Mezzanone was organised and supported by a wide
network of anti-racism and anti-borders activists in South Italy.
