Yesterday people gathered at Central Station Tunnel to show solidarity with the courageous protest of 92 detainees who broke out of Darwin Detention Centre on Wednesday. The snap-action response in Sydney, called by the Anti-Deportation Alliance (ADA) focused on encouraging people to take actions to force the Federal Government to close the detention centres, and inviting people to join the Refugee Action Coalition protest today, Friday 3rd of September.
The Darwin breakout forms part of a long and horrible history of people in detention being driven to suicide, self harm and hunger strikes to get people in Australia, government and media to listen to them. Disgracefully, a racism fueled political climate has attempted to drown out their message. ADA is calling for grassroots, decentralised and coordinated actions to change this system that locks up people for seeking a better life.
People from Afghanistan are currently subject to the Federal Government’s ‘visa freeze’. Some of the detainees in on-shore and off-shore detention centres have been imprisoned for several months with no process towards their release and resettlement. No wonder there’s been riots in the detention centres!
The latest news reports that the group who broke out of Darwin Detention Centre on Wednesday has been transported by lorry to Curtain Detention Centre in WA. Clearly this is an attempt to further cut them off from the public's eye. During their protest beside the freeway in Darwin, police actively attempted to silence the detainees and obstruct their communication with the media. They were provided with no water or food over the course of the day, which led to 15 being rushed to hospital for dehydration.
The Anti-Deportation Alliance support peoples self determination to chose the kinds of lives they want and where they want to live them. Detaining people who have fled war, poverty, discrimination and possible death is shameful. The only reasonable and sane solution is offering permanent protection in the community.
Let’s stand together against their prisons!
Silence is complicity, Solidarity is our weapon.
Contact: nodeportations@gmail.com
