March for Freedom violently attacked by police in Luxembourg/Letter of protest to Ambassador of Luxembourg in the Netherlands

MARCH FOR FREEDOM VIOLENTLY ATTACKED BY
POLICE IN LUXEMBOURG/LETTER OF
PROTEST TO THE AMBASSADOR OF LUXEMBOURG IN THE NETHERLANDS
Dear Readers,
The March For Freedom is a demonstrative protest against
inhuman EU asylum policy  and it stands for the following principles
  • Freedom of movement and of residence for all asylum seekers
  • Stop the Dublin trap and the obligatory residence in Lagers throughout Europe
  • Permanent documents without criteria (not depending on working contracts or individual state prosecution)
  • Stop the imprisonment and deportation of migrants
  • Same working conditions for all
  • Same political, social and cultural rights for all: right to study and to work
  • Stop the European imperialist policies: no more free trade treaties and NATOwars
  • Abolish Frontex, Eurosur and other anti-migration policies and measures
See for the extensive document below
See more about the inhuman asylumpolicy also my website under tag ”Refugees”.

During one of the March for Freedom protest against asylumpolicy,
the blockade of the building where the Kirchberg Conference  [a Conference
of EU ministers of Interior about EU asylum policy] took place, Luxembourg
There was police kicking and beating , people were bit by police dogs  and
But happily, some police officers refused the orders to
That gives hope for the future.
In order to protest against this police violence I have written a letter
to the Ambassador of Luxemburg in the Netherlands and also
to the consulate in Amsterdam.
See direct below
NO ONE IS ILLEGAL!
Astrid Essed
Amsterdam
The Netherlands

TO THE AMBASSADOR OF LUXEMBOURG IN THE NETHERLANDS
Mr M. Lorenz
SUBJECT
Police violence against peaceful demonstrators at the Kircgberg Conference
Dear Excellency,
Hereby I want to draw your attention for the following
I have learnt with shock and indignation of the recent brutal
police attack on non violent demonstrators during the March for Freedom
at 5th of june. (1)
The goal of the attacked demonstration was a symbolic and peaceful
blockade of the building where EU ministers of Interior had a meeting
about EU asylum policy, at Kirchberg. (2), which has also
been criticized  by Human Rights Watch (3)
According my information, 12 people were arrested, among
6 refugees, who are released now (4)
About the attack
Police was conducting very aggressive, there was (from the side of
the police) kicking and beating, pepper spray to the eyes, bloody faces
and people were bit by dogs.
On photo´s and a newsarticle, this violent police conduct
is to be seen (5)
About the goal of the March for Freedom
The demonstrators, who were attacked like that, participated
to the March For Freedom,  a protest against the
European asylumpolicy, which violates human rights (6)
As you know, human rights organisations regularly
criticize the EUand EU countries regarding the asylum policy and their conduct
against the rights of refugees (7)
Brutal police attack is unacceptable
But even if you hold a different opinion about asylumpolicy,
that´s not the point here.
What matters is, that a brutal and violent police conduct, against
anyone, is unacceptable.
The police has to show respect for the rights of demonstrators
anf to behave like that.
Kicking, beating and biting people is out of the
question, which you will agree.
Happily, not all policemen conducted like that.
There was a group, which refused to use violence
against the demonstrators (8| and that´s to be praised
or to say it better
They showed how real police conduct should be.
With respect for the rights of any human being.
I urge to you to press the authorities of Luxembourg
to start a full investigation after the arrests of the March for Freedom
group at 5 june and to ensure, that in the following, the police will
respect the rights of demonstrators.
Thank you for reading this letter
Kind greetings
Astrid Essed
Amsterdam
The Netherlands
[1]
MARCH FOR FREEDOM VIOLENTLY ATTACKED BY
POLICE IN LUXEMBOURG
5 JUNE 2014
PHOTO’S OF POLICE VIOLENCE IN LUXEMBOURG
[2]
”– Task Force for the Mediterranean 
 Information from the Commission and exchange of views 
– Schengen governance 
 Fifth biannual report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the 
 functioning of the Schengen area (1 November 2013 – 30 April 2014) 
 Presentation and exchange of views ”
 
COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS, JUSTICE 5 AND 6
JUNE
PLACE: KIRCHBERG CONFERENCE CENTRE, LUXEMBOURG
 
LUXEMBURGER WORT
AUSSCHREITUNGEN BEI FREIHEITSMARCH
5 JUNI 2014
(3)
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
MAKING SAVING LIVES AT SEA TOP PRIORITY
5 JUNE 2014
(4)
MARCH IN LUXEMBOURG/ARRESTED FREE, MARCH
CONTINUES INTO BELGIUM TODAY
5 JUNE 2014
(5)
PHOTO’S OF POLICE VIOLENCE IN LUXEMBOURG
LUXEMBURGER WORT
AUSSCHREITUNGEN BEI FREIHEITSMARCH
5 JUNI 2014
(6)
MARCHING FOR FREEDOM/DOCUMENTING A STRUGGLE
(7)
´´“Evicting people is not the answer; a well-thought-out and appropriate health-care plan is what is needed. Sadly this isn’t new; the French authorities have a record of carrying out mass forced evictions without providing adequate alternatives for those evicted.” 
 
 
FRANCE/FORCED EVICTIONS AT CALAIS CAMPS RISK
EXACERBATING HEALTH CONCERNS
28 MAY 2014
 
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
DELIVERED BY THE NETHERLANDS INTO THE CLUTCHES
OF A SUICIDE BOMBER IN SOMALIA
29 NOVEMBER 2013
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
MAKING SAVING LIVES AT SEA TOP PRIORITY
5 JUNE 2014
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
FRANCE/UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN DETAINED AT BORDERS
8 APRIL 2014
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
DISPATCHES/DEPORTED TO DANGER IN SOMALIA
29 NOVEMBER 2013
(8)
Bei der Räumung des Sitzstreiks der Lampedusa-Gruppe vor dem Rathaus verweigerten Polizisten den Befehl
 
 
 
 
 

In eleven days we, activists with and without papers, will stand at the border between Germany and France, near Strassbourg. We will have walked there from the German border city Kehl; destination of our journey will be Brussels. The majority of the people involved in the March do not have valid documents; people who do have been asked to leave them at home in solidarity. I will also leave my passport at home.

In eleven days we have started the March to Freedom, an international protest of migrants and supporters. We will walk some 450 kilometers in one month time, during which we will openly and illegally cross a national border four times, because we believe in and fight for the freedom of movement for everybody. We will show that we will not let ourselves be intimidated by the national borders, which have grown into powerful mechanisms of division and exclusion.

At this moment Europe is (still) a society of apartheid. If you have the right documents, you are allowed to exist. You can work, study, get health care or welfare, etc. If you do not have those papers, you will be kicked out on the streets, or imprisoned up to eighteen months, possibly several times. You will be deported, either to the country you have fled, or to the first country that’s willing to be bribed to ‘take you’. In this society of apartheid there are companies who make Big Money from one of the fastests growing markets, the security and deportation industry. From G4S guarding prisons and deporting individuals, to weapon traders like Thales who produce the drones and other high-tech machinery for the military border control under the guise of Frontex: in the “fighting” of the “migration problem” billions of euros are key player.

Resistance crossing the borders

To put an end to a policy that makes them the wretched of a continent, migrants in several European countries have started to organise themselves, together with supporters. We, activists with and without papers, have squated houses, put up tent camps, held hundreds to thousands of demonstrations, stopped deportations, documented stories, gone on hunger strike: time and time again we have claimed attention to the racist policies that put countless people in terrible situations. One cannot be surprised by the fact that in the Netherlands alone hundreds of suicide attempts are being made each year in asylum seeker centers, detention centers and on the streets.

On the 18th of May 2014, for the first time the protest itself will cross the borders. The March to Freedom is a collaboration of the different migrant groups that have formed over the past few years together with local no border networks. This is what we demand:

  • Freedom of movement and of residence for all asylum seekers
  • Stop the Dublin trap and the obligatory residence in Lagers throughout Europe
  • Permanent documents without criteria (not depending on working contracts or individual state prosecution)
  • Stop the imprisonment and deportation of migrants
  • Same working conditions for all
  • Same political, social and cultural rights for all: right to study and to work
  • Stop the European imperialist policies: no more free trade treaties and NATOwars
  • Abolish Frontex, Eurosur and other anti-migration policies and measures

 

Documenting a struggle

I will participate in and report about the March to Freedom, in an attempt to help strengthen the cross-national migrant activist movement against the border policies that are oppressing so many of us. On this blog I will try to highlight every demand stated above and further explore the different issues concerning the no border / migration struggle. From the day-to-day situations rejected migrants are forced into, to the racist-capitalist economy that both demands further border militarisation and highly profits from it; from the cynical reality of democracies that claim to provide freedom and equality (which they obviously don’t) to the so-called “free press” feeding xenophobia and capitalist logic to their public, preventing them from getting to know so many realities. At the end of the journey (which will be far from the end of our struggle) I hope to have compiled a blog that could serve as a useful source for those who want to find out more about the ongoing fight against the borders, their creators, their profitors and their protectors.

Until we are all free!

May 7, 2014

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