Mr D was arrested in Liège in February 2017. He wanted to prevent an attempted rape and had called the police. He was undocumented for six years on the Belgian territory, hence the police arrested him and brought him to the closed centre in vew of a deportation to his ‘country of origin’.
It was foreseen that Mr D would have his first deportation attempt this Tuesday 13th June 2017. Legally, a first deportation attempt may be refused by the retainee at the airport, after which he is being driven back to the centre. Here, unlawfully, an escort of a dozen policemen was expecting him at the airport. Tied up and handcuffed as required by the protocol, he was taken on an SN Airlines flight to Conakry. In the plane he shouted and explained his situation to the passengers. One policeman put his hand over his mouth, others beat him all over his body. Passengers alerted by the cries intervened and refused to travel with him on board. He was taken out of the plane by his escort and driven back to the closed centre. A complaint has been lodged against this violence.
The escort policemen threatened him with a military flight and warned him that he would be deported anyway, ‘even if they had to cut him into pieces and send him back piece by piece’.
It seems that the escort policemen are currently particularly violent, others seem to be part of a contestation movement that has to be informed. Indeed, for one month already we have heard retainees say that many deportations are being cancelled because of a “lack of escort”. This information make us think of protest movements in the ‘escort’ services of the federal police. An article in the Dernière Heure confirms this discomfort: an escort refused to take part in the deportation of Mamadou.http://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/l-expulsion-de-mamadou-annulee-la-police-a-refuse-de-jouer-l-escorte-pour-l-office-des-etrangers-5920b13acd70022542f04f4f
CALL to the passengers who witnessed the deportation of Mr D – please contact gettingthevoiceout@riseup.net.
CALL to question SN Airlines that takes part in the daily deportations
CALL to question the protest movemement by the federal police escorts, which presumably is a state secret!
