Saturday 18 February, as planned, demonstrations took place in several cities in France, in solidarity with the exiles, possibly organized with them.
Besançon :
Manifestation at 2 pm in place Pasteur in solidarity with all migrants.
https://www.infolibertaire.net/besancon-manif-de-solidarite-avec-les-migrants-samedi-18-fevrier-2017/
Caen :
Gathering at 2pm place Bouchard following the expulsion of the squat Drouet on 9 February, for freedom of movement and anti-migration and security policies.
https://agcontrelesexpulsions.wordpress.com/2017/02/12/rassemblement-le-samedi-18-fevrier-a-14h-place-bouchard-a-caen/
Marseille :
Gathering from 2 pm to 4 pm place Félix Baret “Dignity of people in CAO”.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1237580999622926/
Text of call out:
“At the call of the friends of the CAO of Marseille who claim dignity and respect for the promises of asylum:
“We are refugees from Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan… Since the evictionof the Calais camp last october, we were moved into several CAO (« centre d’accueil et d’orientation » = kind of small centers created by the State to accomodate migrants and advice them in sociallife, papers, etc.) scattered in Marseilles. To persuade us to leave the jungle, the french government promised us a lot of things : a shelter, the right to apply for asylum in France… and the most important that the french administration won’t apply the « Dublin law ».
To be under « Dublin law » means you are not allowed to apply for asylum in France. This so-called european law consists in pushing us back to the first european country we entered in the continent, where our fingerprints were registred for the first time (often during an identity control by the police). For most of us, this european country is Italy, where we arrived by sea : our fingerprints were registered
there under duress by the italian police, sometimes we were beated for that and we had no explanation about the sense of these fingerprints.
Today in these centers created to evict Calais camp, we see that the french governement don’t keep its promises to cancel this « Dublin law ». Up to now we are not allowed to apply for asylum in Marseilles and we fear to be deported to Italy in the forthcoming weeks.
We don’t want to go back to Italy. We just want our fingerprints to be erased from the european common file, to be allowed to live peacefully in France as we expected to do. Italy and Calais camp are quite the same : it means sleeping outside, sleeping in the jungle, without means or food, under the threat of the police violence. We don’t want to wait anymore. Now we want to live our lives !
Today we people from the CAO gather together and try to rally support of the public opinion to our cause : we claim for the promises to be respected and for our asylum form to be registred in France, in Marseille.
We meet to demonstrate on Saturday February 18 th in front of the
prefecture in Marseille 14h.
Thank you for your solidarity”
You can download here the original leaflet.
Toulouse :
Friday, February 17th at the Centre Social Autogéré 15 rue Roquelaine, metro Jeanne d’Arc: evening to support the exiles of the CAOs of Toulouse and its surroundings.
http://iaata.info/Soiree-de-soutien-aux-exile-es-des-CAO-de-Toulouse-et-alentours-1875.html
Saturday February 18th, demonstration at 2pm in Place Arnaud Bernard “No human being is illegal”.
http://iaata.info/Manifestation-le-18-02-aucun-etre-humain-n-est-illegal-1873.html
Text of appeal:
«No human being is illegal
In Toulouse, we, collective migrant solidarity 31, call for a protest in solidarity with all undocumented people as part of a national day of action.
Isolated minors, persons expelled from Calais in CAOs, persons exiled to the streets or in squats, persons wishing to access health care : there are many undocumented people who are subjected to inhuman treatment on a daily basis from the state and its institutions. The request for asylum, that is to say, the right to obtain papers for having fled a dangerous situation, is truly an obstacle course, at the end of which, the vast majority of the applicants are refused. And for others who wish to come to France for different reasons, the situation is no easier. In Haute-Garonne, any other application for a residence permit (work, care, family, student, etc.) is almost systematically refused.
Beyond the legal situation, the living conditions of the exiles are very precarious : isolated minors and families on the street, no access to care, no payment of rights (such as the ADA, aid to persons requesting asylum), loss of autonomy (the impossibility of cooking in certain centers), infantilizing treatment, very difficult access to French courses, isolation in the legal proceedings (absence of translators in the accompaniment), very precarious and underpaid employments…
The State seeks to divide and exhaust. Its institutions deal with each individual on a case-by-case basis and isolate each person who is faced with all the administrative machinery, in order to better keep the exiled people waiting, in order to discourage them so that they will then leave the country.
NO HUMAN BEING IS ILLEGAL
WE DEMAND
Real access to health care.
The immediate payment of the social aids.
Dignified housing conditions.
The access to training courses, studies and work.
The end of all Dublin procedures
The free circulation of all persons.
Legal papers for all.
PROTEST SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY 14H PLACE ARNAUD BERNARD
We oppose this isolation and division with solidarity and the strength of collectivity : faced with the repressive policies and rejection by the State, we build our solidarities and demand the application of the rights that are often violated.
We are therefore in solidarity with all of the activists who go to trial for having supported migrants. We can not accept that the government criminalizes the elementary duty of solidarity and turns activists into criminals. ».