8 March 2012 – Testimony by a young girl detained in the 127bis Centre who was the impotent witness of a collective deportation to Congo
Listen to the testimony (FR) :
[audio:http://www.gettingthevoiceout.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Ce-nest-pas-logique-de-traiter-les-gens-de-cette-facon.mp3|titles=Ce n’est pas logique de traiter les gens de cette facon]Tell me, what happened on Tuesday when all the Congolese were deported, what did you see ?
Through the window, we saw them passing one by one, they were handcuffed. They were at least 18 people, the 19th person was wearing a white singlet and he had lose trousers, there was blood on his singlet. You could see from his face that he had been beaten, from his mouth too, like if it was bleeding, like if he had been hit.
According to the boys who saw him, his head was injured, you could see it on his white singlet.
The others were leaving naturally, quietly, but he had loose trousers, he didn’t even have a belt. Besides, it was weird because all the others went into the same bus but he went alone into a van, and there were many policemen all around.
Were there many police officers ?
Yes there were.
For him alone or for all the others too ?
He was alone in the van, actually two people went into the van, himself and a girl, all the others went to another van.
This is what you’ve seen, were you shocked to see it ?
Honestly, I was severely shocked to see how people are taken away just like animals.
And after that, did they leave with the bus and vans ?
Yes they did, it was big buses like the buses that run in the city, big buses. On the other side of the street, there were at least 5 police vans. All this for 19 persons… just like if they were criminals. This is not reasonable, this is not logical to treat people like that, we are no criminals.
How is it for the moment in the detention centre ?
It is quiet somehow, but we are a bit traumatized. Since that day I swear it makes me sick and stresses me out everytime I sleep, I imagine it can happen to me.
One night you fall asleep and they come to handcuff you and take you away, it is so shocking. You are with someone and they call you, the assistant calls you, she wants to talk to you, and that’s the way they isolate someone. Can you imagine the state we can be in, the fear to be taken away and isolated for 24 hours, and then to hear that your flight is for the day after.
You come and take a person away and you don’t bring her back normally but handcuffed and surrounded by police officers, all these police vans that follow you just like if you were going to vanish in the air… it is really scandalous.
No one knows what tomorrow will be like.
These people were not fighters, they did not even take part in the riots in Matonge but they have to carry the blame for it. They will be the ones to bear the consequences for those who really were part of the riots and who presently live peacefully and free. It is too sad to to be aware of that…
