Demonstration against Deportations

Streckenverlauf
Call for demonstration (German version)
Berlin, U-Bhf Turmstraße, Oct 22nd 2016, 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. // Stop Deportations – stop deportations to Pakistan, stop Dublin III deportations to Hungary, stop all deportations!

The Berlin based Stop Deportation Group calls to show solidarity with Pakistani refugees and those threatened by deportation under Dublin III. Join the rally on October 22nd 2016!

Route: From U-Bhf Turmstraße to Pariser Platz (see attachment).

In 2015, the European Union made the decision to deport thousands of Pakistani refugees to “make room" for so-called “legitimate“ migrants. Now, this policy is being implemented in German practice: Refugees from Pakistan are forced to get on the next available charter flight to Turkey. They will then be deported to Islamabad, Pakistan.

Still, it becomes quite clear in some cases of asylum procedures that German authorities simply will not conform to legal standards if these do not fit their agenda. We protest against programmatic deportation! We demand ALL asylum procedures to be carried out according to the law! Not only do Pakistanis suffer from this abuse by German authorities – back in Pakistan they are threatened by the state's despotism and thus the possibility of imprisonment. This happens in a huge scale, unseen by the public.

We, the Stop Deportation Group, call attention to these current issues:

1. Pakistani refugees are equally entitled to a proper interview, to describe in detail their motivations to flee their home country. However, this right is in many cases taken from them by German authorities.

2. When deported back to Pakistan they can be randomly incarcerated for no other reason than having left the country and sought asylum elsewhere. Such a confinement can last for an indefinite period of time.

One mandatory part of every refugee’s asylum procedure is the interview. It is the refugee’s only chance to describe their personal background story and thereby the reasons for their departure from home. This information is of crucial importance in an asylum procedure. We have information about refugees who were never given that chance to present their case. Some received the invitation to the interview just after the actual appointment. Others were sent away on the day of their interview without any further communication. They were then ordered to leave the country within a few days time as they allegedly had not kept their appointment. Any form of protest against this procedure is ignored, even in cases where the management of the refugee’s place of accommodation can confirm that refugees were not notified about their appointments in time. 

In Pakistan they are threatened by the state investigative authority’s caprice (UN 2003) and therefore by immediate incarceration for violations against art. 4 123-A of the Pakistan Penal Law (PPL) and art. 3 of the 1974 Passport Act. It forbids citizens to leave the country without valid passport and visa: „No Citizen of Pakistan shall […] visit a foreign country unless his passport is valid for such country. […] A citizen of Pakistan who is of the age of twelve years or more shall be punishable with imprisonment […]“. Now, anyone who is forced to leave their country to seek asylum, for whatever reason, will probably do so in every possible way.

To deny any person their right to asylum and a proper legal procedure in order to simply “make room“, does nothing except to give rise to new conflicts among refugees. This is NOT acceptable!

To deport people to countries where their safety is not guaranteed and where policies pose threats to their basic human right to freedom - that is NOT acceptable!

3. At the same time we are protesting against the Dublin III agreement, according to which the German authorities still carry out deportations to countries like Hungary. There, refugees face detention, repression, criminalisation and inhumane conditions.

This is why, on Oct. 22nd, we will demonstrate in front of the Hungarian Embassy to call attention to the repression against refugees and criminalisation of migration that are currently happening in the country. We will protest against the criminalisation of the "Röszke 11", arrested in September 2015 when Hungary put up the fence at the border to Serbia and changed the law, thereby turning so-called "illegal" crossings into criminal acts. In July 2016, a court in Szeged Hungary found ten out of eleven people guilty of “illegal border crossing” and “participation in a mass riot”. 

We want to show our solidarity with Yamen, Kamel, Farouk and Ahmed, who are, to this day for more than one year, held captive in Hungary. All of them have to be given back their freedom immediately! 

In addition, Ahmed H. is facing a seperate trial. He is accused of “terrorism”. The Hungarian government's accusations are based on nothing but vague and fabricated proof in addition to contradictory testimonies given only by police witnesses. He is being framed as a threat to the Hungarian nation state in particular and to "civilized" Europe in general.

To treat cases like Ahmed's as "acts of terrorism", works as an efficient tool in the hands of government officials and state institutions to shape the discourse around refugees, transforming those who come to Europe in search for help into "public enemies".

The Röszke trials take place within a hostile setting of militarized European borders that, through utter violence, keep people on the outside who simply pursue the possibility of forming a peaceful and meaningful life. This is the reality at the Serbian-Hungarian border, for instance, where many have been robbed and beaten up by paramilitary groups. At the same time Hungarian mayors proudly post pictures of people at the border, who are tied up in dehumanizing poses before they get deported back to Serbia. The trials are also set aganinst a backdrop of legal frameworks that generally undergo shameless changes in order to legitimize more of that violence and avoidance of responsibility in the near future. And they appear as well in the context of normalized racist propaganda, such as Hungary's nothing but symbolic referendum on October 2nd, 2016, letting Hungarian citizens choose between the forced relocation scheme of the EU and the ‘Hungarian solution’ of fencing off people completely. The trials reveal the absurdity and extreme irresponsibility of the European policy of migration and the ruthless repression by the EU border regime.

(for more information on the Röszke trial, see http://freetheroszke11.weebly.com/.)

Join us and show your solidarity with refugees, on October 22nd, 2016! Stop Deportation!