[Imc-uk-features] Feature proposal - 'Dawn raids stopped on UN International Migrants Day'

[freethepeeps at aktivix.org]

Hi

A proposal has gone in for a feature on the No Borders actions - text below. It
should go up tomorrow morning, as there is a 24 hour consultation period.

If you have any suggestions for improvements to the text, links etc, please
email them back - thanks.

Quoting freethepeeps at aktivix.org:

> Hi, with action reports still coming in, I'd like to propose a feature to go
> up
> marking the success of actions this morning.
> 
> Proposed text:
> 
> <p>On Tuesday 18/12/07. activists from the <a
> href="http://www.noborders.org.uk/">No Borders Network</a>, marked   <a
> href="http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/events/migrants/">UN International
> Migrant's
> Day</a>, by <a
> href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/388077.html">blockading
> immigration reporting centres</a> in Glasgow, Bristol, Newcastle and
> Portsmouth. Arriving at the centres in the early hours of the morning, the
> activists aimed to prevent Immigration Enforcement Officers from staging
> dawn
> raids, in which families are often rounded up in preparation for removal to
> countries from which they have been forced to flee.</p>
> 
> <p>In Bristol, activists arrived in time to lock onto vehicles, and a police
> officer wasoverheard confirming that a dawn raid had been planned. Plymouth
> activists were locked onto the swing barrier and gates by 4.30am and believe
> that another dawn raid from that site was thwarted. Glasgow activists were
> in
> place by 5.30am when Immigration Enforcement Officers arrived and were
> unable
> to leave the car park with their vehicles due to a tripod, and people
> d-locked
> to the gates. Newcastle activists dressed in Santa outfirs locked onto the
> gates and used arm tubes to prevent vehicles from leaving the car parks. 2
> of
> the Glasgow activists were cut free from their D-locks and arrested, whilst
> a
> tripod continued to ensure that vehicles could not leave the car park.
> Activists at the other sites were able to leave without any arrests taking
> place.</p>
> 
> <p>The actions took place the day after a disturbance at <a
> href="http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/388013.html">Campsfield
> Immigration Removal Centre</a>, when detainees responded to a particularly
> violent attempt to remove a man born in Benin, by destroying CCTV cameras,
> light fittings and plumbing fixtures. One detainee reported that the Blue
> Wing
> was <a
>
href="http://www.oxfordmail.net/display.var.1908800.0.police_called_to_campsfield_house.php">"devastated".</a></p>
> 
> <p> Meanwhile, Nottingham activists spent Monday and Tuesday campaigning to
> stop
> the deportation of  <a
> href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/388036.html">Jane Mary
> Mutetsi</a>, a Rwandan national who fled to Britain via Uganda after her
> husband was murdered and she was subjected to a gang rape and severe beating
> by
> Rwandan soldiers in which she lost the sight in one eye, her left ovary and
> several teeth. Jane Mary faces deportation to Uganda, where it is rumoured
> that
> there is a warrant for her arrest.</p>
> 
> <p>Last week, the <a href="http://www.ncadc.org.uk/index.htm">NCADC</a>
> reported
> that several detainees had been <a
> href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/387896.html">succesful</a> in
> resisting deportation attempts.These included Tarls Wood detainee <a
>
href="http://www.ncadc.org.uk/emmaginnsfolder/emmaginnsfolder/nov%2007/Maud.htm">Maud
> Lennard</a>, a Zimbabwean national who has managed to resist 7 deportation
> attempts. Ms. Lennard fled Zimbabwe on a Malawian passport that she obtained
> through bribing officials, and the UK immigration services have decided that
> she can therefore be deported to Malawi.</p>
> 
> <p>Earlier in the year, a <a
> href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/09/381277.html">No Border Camp</a>
> was held in Sussex to protest against the proposed building of a new
> Immigration Removal Centre at Gatwick Airport, which forms part of the plans
> for a massive expansion of Immigration Removal facilities. Time and time
> again
> the UK state has been seen to be failing in its duty to offer refuge to
> those
> who flee political oppression and persecution.</p>
> 
> best
> 
> ftp
> 
> Some photos in from Glasgow at
> http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/388077.html?c=on#c186407 -
> suggest
> the 2nd one if no better ones come in.
> 
> 
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