Bruxelles, June 24^th 2014

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE MARCH FOR FREEDOM

CONCERNING THE EVICTION

OF THE OCCUPIED REFUGEE PROTEST SCHOOL

IN BERLIN-KREUZBERG

We, the March for Freedom, who walked from Strasbourg to Brussels to protest against the European asylum system, have built up our protest camp in Brussels.last Friday.

Right now we are protesting in front of the German Embassy to demand the immediate stop of the eviction of the occupied Refugee Protest School in Berlin-Kreuzberg.

This morning, the police of Berlin started the brutal eviction of the school that has been a home and project house for the self-organized Refugee Protest in Berlin for the last 1,5 years. In October 2012 refugees from many different towns and villages in Germany left their lagers (asylum camps) to break the isolation system and live a self-determined life. They built up a big and vibrant protest camp in the middle of Berlin. The initial reason for this movement was the death of a friend. He killed himself inside his lager because he couldn’t take his situation any longer.

In this moment, about 70 of our brothers and sisters are barrikading themselves inside the school building and about 30 are standing on the roof of the school and threaten to jump or burn themselves if their demand is not fulfilled:

• All the people from Oranienplatz and the school have to get a residence permit (for example with § 23 of the German Asylum Law).

The reality for them is looking very different: The Berlin government is offerig a house for about 200 people from the school, but 300 – 400 people are actually living inside the school. This new „residence“ is located outside of Berlin and will be strictly controlled by a security service. The offer does not include illegalized people. This means a serious threat of deportation for many.

So the people who left their lagers to fight for their rights and their freedom of movement are now forced to go back to a similar kind of lager – or face the street.

In the meantime, more than 700 people gathered outside the police blockades to show their solidarity. We hope that even more will join and show a strong signal throughout the night.

We are here in Brussels to show that our problems are international. Europe can no longer ignore its responsibilities for the consequences of its imperialistic and neo-colonial governance. As long as the European powers work together to create a flawless anti-migration system, we will unite to stand together and to show that migration is everybody’s right! We are here because you are destroying our countries!

We also show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Holland. They have been fighting their Refugee Protest since February 2013 and occupied two houses in Amsterdam that are now also threatened by eviction.

To show this mutual solidarity in public, we had a demonstration today from the protest camp to the German – and then to the Dutch embassy. Later, we started a spontaneous action in front of the German Embassy.

WE NEED YOUR SOLIDARITY!