13 september, diverse steden: lokale demonstraties “Stop refugee discrimination”

Onder het motto “Stop refugee discrimination. All refugees deserve protection” worden op initiatief van het Afrikaans Vluchtelingen Collectief (AVC) op 13 september in zeven steden lokale demonstraties gehouden. Die steden zijn: Amsterdam, Groningen, Nijmegen, Wageningen, Rotterdam, Den Haag en Zaanstad. Aan de demonstraties liggen acht eisen van het AVC ten grondslag: “1. Safe entry at European borders, 2. Permanent shelter for all, 3. Family reunification must stay, 4. End deportation, 5. Guarantee asylum to stateless, 6. General pardon, 7 Children pardon, 8. Raise income of asylumseekers”.

Uit de oproeptekst voor de lokale demonstraties: “Join one of the demos in different Dutch cities on the 13th of September to speak out loud against double standards towards refugees. Asylum seekers are treated differently based on their origin and skin color. That is racism and xenophobia. It is racism and xenophobia that while some refugees are received with welcoming signs at the train station, 300 people have to sleep in the rain outside the overcrowded Ter Apel asylum application center, be searched and sleep on chairs or on the ground, without even medical care. The difference is their color and origin.

Dinsdag 13 september

Amsterdam
Vanaf 15:30 uur
Dam

Groningen
Vanaf 19:00 uur
Grote Markt

Nijmegen
Vanaf 18:00 uur
Stationsplein

Wageningen
Van 19:30 tot 20:30 uur
Markt 22

Rotterdam
Vanaf 17:00 uur
Schouwburgplein

Den Haag
Vanaf 17:00 uur
Spuiplein

Zaanstad
Vanaf 18:00 uur
Martin Luther Kingweg 157

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It is racism and xenophobia that while some are welcome with open doors, a new asylum seekers’ center (AZC) – that would give some humanity to some of the people sleeping outside Ter Apel – was received with screams and rage in Albergen. Even children shouted: ‘AZC, NEE, NEE, NEE!’ (what are teaching the kids?!!!!). Protest boards read hateful messages such as ‘Keep Albergen clean’, ‘What are you doing to our beautiful little village?’ and ‘Soon 10 percent immigrants, can we live here safely?’.

In the Netherlands, a policy passed last month to, out of all the people fleeing the Ukrainian war, only give asylum and services to those with a Ukrainian permanent residence and those that already had asylum in Ukraine. The rest of asylumseekers are told to go back to Ukraine or back to their countries of origin. We are talking about people coming from a war zone! Who are not given even medical care! WE WILL NOT STAY QUIET. Now, another policy is underway to legally allow municipalities to take in only Ukrainian refugees and no other asylumseekers if they so want. That is legalizing discrimination!!!! WE CAN’T ACCEPT THIS!

We are seeing racism, xenophobia and islamophobia spreading across Europe. In Spain, the president of the Spanish far-right VOX party said: ‘Anyone can tell the difference between them [Ukranian refugees] and the invasion of young military-aged men of Muslim origin who have launched themselves against European borders in an attempt to destabilise and colonise it’. The Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said: ‘These people are intelligent, they are educated people… This is not the refugee wave we have been used to, people we were not sure about their identity, people with unclear pasts, who could have been even terrorists’. And these are only 2 examples.

These inhumane policies just follow. WE NEED TO STOP IT NOW. That is why on the 13th of September we will take the streets in different cities across the Netherlands. STOP REFUGEE DISCRIMINATION! ALL REFUGEES DESERVE PROTECTION! Join us in our fight for human rights for all and let’s tell the Netherlands and the world that WE ARE WATCHING, and WE WILL NOT STAY QUIET.“

Harry Westerink