Since Mahmoud’s death yesterday at the 127bis closed centre (near Zaventem), five of his comrades have been put in solitary confinement and forcibly transferred to three different centres: two in Bruges, two in Vottem (Liège), and one in Caricole (also near Zaventem). Their phones have been taken away and they are being deprived of all contact. Nothing has been put in place by the centre to allow them to grieve in peace, quite the contrary.
An attempt by the centre and the Immigration Office to discourage and muzzle resistance from within.
The five people transferred were those closest to Mahmoud and who had the strongest ties to the Palestinian community outside.
Mahmoud’s comrades were in mourning and had started a hunger strike together. One detainee told us yesterday that around 80% of the detainees at 127bis had started a hunger strike.
That same afternoon, they were put in solitary confinement and transferred away from their comrades.
In the evening, a small group of people gathered in front of the centre to show and shout their solidarity with those in detention. Messages of support and anger were exchanged. Following this, the centre’s staff organised a search of all the rooms, further exacerbating the climate of repression.
Mahmoud’s death is an unspeakable tragedy, and the Belgian state has blood on its hands.
Shame on you!
Resistance is organising, the people will not forget.
But let us not forget all the people locked up in these centres of death, often for months, sometimes for a year or even several years.
Whether you come from Palestine or elsewhere, we are thinking of you.
No one is illegal, you are not illegal.
Down with detention centres and their world.
Freedom for all.
