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

[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.