(France) Anti-Prison Demo Calais 31/12
Waar: Calais, Boulevard du Kent, Calais, Netherlands
Wanneer: 31/12/2015 - 13:28
NEW YEARS NOISE DEMO at COQUELLES Detention Centre
“Let us roar in solidarity”
There is a long history of anti-prison demo’s on new years eve to highlight that while some celebrate the coming of a new year, many cannot…
In Calais, people are imprisoned on a routine basis. Border repression means racist arrests on the city streets, it means detention up to 45 days without being charged, it means police brutality in the isolation of your cell, it means deportation back to situations of war. When migration is made a crime, prisons are central to the repression of the border.
Incarceration is part of the state’s broader strategy of wearing down migrants through continual violence and destroying autonomous support networks by tearing refugees apart from their friends, comrades and loved ones.
In Coquelles detention centre, cops have locked up people taken from the centre of Calais, the port or the tunnel. They’ve been snatched from the streets while walking to the jungle or just eating fries. Some are released after a dose of prison intimidation, others are kept for longer. We have repeatedly witnessed the situation that police make 50 arbitrary arrests a day to fill a quota and then send arrestees away from Coquelles. They are sent by bus or by plane to other prisons in France, sometimes more than 1000 km away, sometimes resulting in deportations. We want to raise our voice and make it clear that we refuse to accept these detentions any longer!
We stand in solidarity with all detained in Coquelles or any other prison. Let us break down isolation and the walls of the border regime’s prisons!
No celebration without our imprisoned friends!
Bring banners, pots, pans, megaphones and as much noise as you can (and your friends).
31 December 15:00
Coquelles, Calais
Boulevard du Kent (parking of shopping mall)
https://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/2015/12/25/new-years-noise...
Report from NYE noise demo at Coquelles detention center
Yesterday (31 December) afternoon around 80 people gathered outside the police station / detention centre at Coquelles for a noise demo to protest the violence of the border regime. They we’re joined by a bunch of cops and some local fascists from the group Les Calaisien en Colere, who didn’t do a very good job of remaining incognito.
The demo brought together a mix of people – some connected to Calais Migrant Solidarity, antifa militants, activists and volunteers from the distribution teams in the jungle, and people with and without papers living in Calais – who all wanted to show their solidarity with those imprisoned in the detention centre and their rage at the system that imprisoned them.
Gathering outside the front entrance of the police station, the crowd made a fierce and joyous cacophony with pots and pans and musical instruments, accompanied by a trombone playing duo and a sound system playing classic tunes from the jungle. Banners were hung on the fences around the prison, with slogans such as ‘From conflict to cage: Welcome to Europe‘, ‘Freedom of movement for all‘, ‘Free the Channel Tunnel 3‘, and ‘No borders, No Nations, Stop Deportations‘.
From the start at the entrance gate to the detention prison, the group moved around the outskirts of the prison. The crowd moved to the back of the building, the part where people are held in detention, and marched up to a line of cops who were there waiting for them with their cans of pepper spray in their hands. The crowd stayed outside, making an impassioned statement of solidarity with those interned on new years eve that felt strong. The party lasted several hours until everyone decided to leave. Speeches were made which also expressed the sentiment of the party: that it is incomplete until everyone is free from behind the bars of the Coquelles detention prison.
Source: https://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/2016/01/01/report-from-nye...