Dear friends,
In behalf of the International Migrants Alliance and MIGRANTE-Europe, we participated in the commemoration activity for the victims of the "Schiphol fire" - the name given when a detention center for the undocumented was
burned down in a fire on 26 october, 2005. The commemoration actvity was held at Schiphol Oost, at the site of the fire where a new detention center has sprung up.The activity was organized by M2M Migrants radio and the Blue House. Later in the evening, a memorial service was held at the Hoofdvaartkerk in Hoofddorp organized by the the Raad van Kerken Hoofdorp.
The "Schiphol fire" led to the death of 11 victims who were locked in their cells. They were all migrants and refugees. Some of them were seeking asylum in the Netherlands, some were suspected of working here without papers but
three of them even had proper papers but they did not carry them when accosted by the police. All were brought to the Schiphol detention center at various times. That night of the fire, there were around 200 inmates at the detention center. The survivors were later transferred to another detention center. Since then, those without criminal records have been released. The Dutch government promised them that they will be issued permits to stay on the basis of their original applications for refugee status or for humanitarian reasons. But up to now, only 39 have been granted these
permits. The rest have been left on the streets to wait. Many more are waiting.Those waiting have to rely on people with good hearts to have a place to stay, to have food and clothing and for the sick, to have medicine.
Nothing can bring back the lives of the eleven who died in the fire but for those who survived, in solidarity, we join them in asking for JUSTICE!
It may interest you to check the website: http://m2m.streamtime.org
To hear and see the solidarity message of the International Migrants Alliance, click and play the video after the text: *"26th October. Survivors in front of the prison gates".*
In solidarity,
Grace Punongbayan
Intrnational Migrants Alliance
International Coordinating Body
MIGRANTE-Europe