‘The only difference is that my skin is black’ March 2013

 Testimony of an attempt to evict of a lady from the Ivory Coast, arrested on arrival at the airport and detained in the closed centre Caricole. Finally she did get deported to Egypt during another eviction attempt.

la seule différence c’est que j’ai la peau noire ok

Our request for asylum was denied. They sent us a ticket to leave on Friday around 3 pm to Egypt. We agreed to return to our own country, but not to Egypt given the circumstances there.

We asked for a ticket Brussels-Ivory Coast. We talked to a social worker but he said that he could not help us at the time being. We told him that if they came to evict us, we would refuse.
It was better that we stayed until Monday to clarify the situation and then leave. We are willing to leave but only if we receive a ticket for the Ivory Coast. On Saturday our lawyer warned us that they were able to come, handcuff us and put us on a plane to Egypt. They came indeed and showed no mercy.

They started bullying us. We told them that they could not intimidate us and that they would have to face the consequences if they did.
Straight away they tried to take my badge. I refused to give it to them and hid it in my bra. They called in a woman. She was very nervous.
Then they called in another 4 people who started to fight to take the badge from me.
When the guard tried to take my phone, I tried to call my lawyer. At that moment I felt weak and I fell.
Because of this they managed to drag me in a car. The car parked at the parking lot of the airport.
5 people came and stood in front of the car.
My chest hurt and I sat down on a chair near the exit. They thaught I wanted to beat someone, so a man stood behind me and beat me.

I told him that the only difference between him and me was the colour of my skin. I told him: I don’t know whether you are white or red, but I know that you are mad to treat me this way. THe others told him to stop. I was out of breath and near a crisis, but I can’t use Ventolin anymore as it does not affect my body anymore. I was in agony for more than 2 hours. I stayed calm and lay down for a while.

You are now in the closed centre 127 bis?
Yes
And you want to return to the Ivory Coast, but not through Cairo?
Yes, at the time being the situation in Egypt is not stable. There is a crisis going on. Who can guarantee planes are taking off from Egypt?