Detainees at 127bis report that part of the center (the R0 wing, on the ground floor) was searched this Sunday, May 17, room by room. This kind of thorough search isn’t uncommon, but one detainee reminded us just how much pressure it puts on people: he calls it an “attempt at intimidation” by the center’s staff.
“They turned everything upside down. I don’t know what they were looking for. Every month, they pick a block. This was for no reason at all. It’s not normal; it’s intimidation. And it went on for three hours. They do this in prison too, but it’s not as intense as here—here it was too much. Even when the police come to search the prison, it’s not like that. Plus, this time it was the staff. In prison, for example, they put everyone in a waiting room with bottles of water; it lasts an hour at most. Here it was too long—it went on for hours, and they didn’t tell us when it would end. And we had to ask for water; we didn’t get it right away.
People lost things. My locker is broken; I can’t close it anymore. I asked about it, and they told me a technician would come later. It’s ridiculous—the staff just walks in and takes whatever they want; there’s no privacy. It’s on purpose. The administration wasn’t even there; it seems like they decided this all on their own.”
On Tuesday, May 19, in another wing, a man who had been on a hunger strike for 18 days was transferred to another facility. His fellow inmates protested loudly, and the administration called the police. Nine police vans arrived, carrying about twenty officers and dogs. After intense discussions with the administration, calm was restored. Four inmates were put in solitary confinement following this, for being “too aggressive”!
On Wednesday, May 20, an inmate alerted us:
“Hello, someone just was taken away in an ambulance, with their hands tied behind their back, and the police were there. They’re not telling us what’s going on. They carried him out of solitary confinement, motionless on the ambulance stretcher. He must be in really bad shape.”
The person also warned us that there will be four police vans and a large bus, in anticipation of a mass deportation from the military airport.
One more reason for us all to come together and show our support for the people detained in the two centers near Zaventem (127bis and Caricole): meet this Saturday, May 23, at 2 p.m., at the Nossegem train station! We’ll shout our support for those who are locked up, and our dream of one day seeing the end of these prisons.
SOLIDARITY WITH THE DETAINEES OF 127BIS AND ELSEWHERE
FREEDOM FOR ALL
NO BORDERS, NO NATIONS
BURN DOWN THE DETENTION CENTERS AND ALL PRISONS
