Arrests are going on in the streets of Brussels, in public transport, at the airport and in some people’s homes. We are in contact with many women arrested at the airport, often fleeing forced marriages, very serious domestic violence, to the point where one of them tells us “I want to stay in the centre. This is the only place where I feel safe.“
We are also in contact with people arrested at the airport whose documents are declared invalid by the airport police. For some, they have a valid residence permit in a European country and yet are illegally deported to their country of origin a day or two after their arrest without having time to consult a legal service.
We have contact with young people who are arrested on the street or during a Stib check and taken to a detention centre. They are very young, sometimes even minors, and have been wandering in Europe for 1 or 2 years. They will be sent back to their country of origin or to the Dublin country where they were forced to give their fingerprints. Once expelled, their “journey” will start again to try to find a “nicer” welcome elsewhere.
We are in contact with women or men who are prosecuted for public order offences and transferred from prison to a detention centre for deportation. Many have lived here for years, have families here and do not know their country of origin.
Many of the people we have contact with are Algerians who cannot be deported at the moment, as well as Senegalese who cannot be deported because their embassy refuses to issue them a pass. They will remain locked up for several months. Two Senegalese were released after 9 months of detention. Several Algerians have been detained for more than 8 months.
The detainees also tell us about many deportations to Eastern Europe and South America.This list is not exhaustive.
The detainees tell us about racism and provocation by staff in some centres.They demand their release.
CALL
We are looking for more people to call/visit the detainees so that their words do not remain unheard and that the very existence of these centres of shame are known to the general public and do not remain forgotten.Contact: 0465242430 or eveline@riseup.net
For those who can, please help us to top up their phones by paying 5.10 euros or more into the Triodos Bank account BE58 5230 8016 1279 BIC: TRIOBEBB https://www.gettingthevoiceout.org/contact-and-support-us/
