“Let us roar in solidarity”

There is a long history of anti-prison demo’s on new years eve to highlight that while some celebrate the coming of a new year, many cannot…

In Calais, people are imprisoned on a routine basis. Border repression means racist arrests on the city streets, it means detention up to 45 days without being charged, it means police brutality in the isolation of your cell, it means deportation back to situations of war. When migration is made a crime, prisons are central to the repression of the border.

Incarceration is part of the state’s broader strategy of wearing down migrants through continual violence and destroying autonomous support networks by tearing refugees apart from their friends, comrades and loved ones.

In Coquelles detention centre, cops have locked up people taken from the centre of Calais, the port or the tunnel. They’ve been snatched from the streets while walking to the jungle or just eating fries. Some are released after a dose of prison intimidation, others are kept for longer. We have repeatedly witnessed the situation that police make 50 arbitrary arrests a day to fill a quota and then send arrestees away from Coquelles. They are sent by bus or by plane to other prisons in France, sometimes more than 1000 km away, sometimes resulting in deportations. We want to raise our voice and make it clear that we refuse to accept these detentions any longer!

We stand in solidarity with all detained in Coquelles or any other prison. Let us break down isolation and the walls of the border regime’s prisons!

No celebration without our imprisoned friends!

Bring banners, pots, pans, megaphones and as much noise as you can (and your friends).

for more information and our contact information check our blog: https://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/

 

31 December 15:00

Coquelles, Calais

Boulevard du Kent (parking of shopping mall)