The two weeks
camp was meant to intervene concretely against the dispositives of
migrant’s deportation and detention, and very good results were reached.
Actions against deportations of migrants from the island of Lampedusa to other detention centres in Italy or to Lybia:
Blockades of the buses transporting the migrants from Porto Empedocle
(where they are taken after Lampedusa) to the detention centres in other
part of Sicily were organized on the first week. The actions delayed
the departure of the buses and were meant to inform the migrants of their
rights.
On Tuesday the 2nd of August almost 80 activists took part to a further blockade
at Porto Empedocle. When the migrants arrived at the port the
activists started to break off the fences surrounding the migrants’ path
to the buses. The confrontation with the police continued while the
migrants were on the buses. The activists surrounded the buses
delaying their departure and, meanwhile, some of the migrants
managed to smash the windows and to escape. 14 migrants were able
to escape from the port and they are still free.
Initiatives against migrants’detention in sicilian CPT (Centri di Permanenza Temporanea:)
Other actions reached very good results: on Monday the 1st the activist held
a presidium outside the detention centre of Ragusa. This is the only
detention centre in Italy where only women are detained and they are
transferred there from all over Italy. In the morning an official delegation
entered the centre with a member of the parliament.
Meanwhile, some of
the activist were able to speak to the migrants through the fences and find out
that some of the detainees were asylum seekers who had stayed there for
more than 30 days (the maximum detention period for asylum seeker). At
that point, realizing that the official delegation overlooked important
circumstances such as the illegal detention of the migrants, the activists
broke into the centre and invaded part of the court yard. The invasion
lasted for many hours, supported also by the women detained who were
protesting in the rest of the court yard. A second
delegation including 4 activists from the camp obtained to inspect the centre,
accompanied by another member of the Parliament (this is the only
way in Italy to enter detention centres unless you do not brake into them).
The activists obtained assurance that the six asylum seekers would have been
freed and that a woman in serious condition would have been taken to the
hospital. The woman was taken to the hospital the following day.
Two days later
another delegation went back to Ragusa and obtained the release of the
six asylum seekers which was made possible thanks to the activist
mobilization.
On the 5th of August activists from the camp held another presidium and a press
conference in Agrigento asking the authorities to clarify what happened to
a boat which left Libya two days before. 130 migrants were on the boat which
disappeared. Street blockades were organized against the authorities
decision to stop the searching to rescue the boat.
Updates on the first week
40
migrants escaped from a building in Porto Empedocle where almost 200
of them had been temporarily placed before the identification procedures.
Also in that occasion, a delegation of activists from the anti-racism camp
was able to enter the building and inform the migrants about their rights
and the consequences of the detention. After the escape, which was an
autonomous initiative of the migrants, the local authorities did not allow
the activists to enter again into the building.
Other initiatives were taken during the camp: a demonstration against
the detention centre in Caltanisetta on Saturday 30th and one in Licata
on the 3rd of August with the aim of rising awareness among the local
population.
Initiatives scheduled for next Autumn:
Following the meeting which was held in Bari on July the 10th ,
mobilization and actions against detention centres are scheduled from
September:
– one decentralized day of action in September against detention
centres and for the boycotting of the ngos and companies which run
the centres.
– Two demonstration in October to obstruct the opening of the detention
centre in Bari and in Gradisca d’Isonzo (the exact date will be decide in a
national meeting to be held September 4th)
– A national demonstration in November against the Italian
immigration law.
More reports from the camp in Sicily:
http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2005/07/844539.php
http://www.globalproject.info/art-5445.html
*Thanks to Enrica Rigo who wrote this report