No Borders Communiqué to Immigration Prisoners

To all our brothers and sisters locked up in Immigration Removal Centres,

You are not forgotten!

This is a communiqué from the ‘No Borders Network’

Harmondsworth on the left, Colnbook on the right: both exit roads were closed for 7-hours by protestors

We want to tell you about something that happened on Valentine’s Day, Tuesday 14th February 2012, at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook ‘Immigration Removal Centres’, near Heathrow Airport.

Harmondsworth is the biggest migrant prison in Europe, with 600 people trapped inside. Next door is Colnbrook, another detention centre with very high security, where 300 people are locked up.

At 6 o’clock in the evening, 12 militants blocked the exit roads outside these detention centres. They put heavy concrete blocks in the roads, and chained their arms together inside them. This stopped coaches and prison vans from taking people to the airport. That night, the UK Border Agency wanted to do a mass deportation (“charter flight”) to Ghana. The militants wanted to stop it. They were joined by 50 supporters, who had come from across Europe – from Scotland, Belgium, Germany, France…

The prison guards tried to scare us away with their dogs. Then the police started to arrive, even riot cops. But we keep the exit roads shut for 7 hours, and shouted slogans in different languages.

We knew of about 18 people inside Harmondsworth facing deportation to Ghana that night. The charter flight could take 50 people in total, fromall the different detention centres in Britain. The plane was scheduled to take off at midnight from Stanstead Airport, a 2 hour drive from Harmondsworth. The blockade delayed the coach from getting to the airport for several hours and caused the flight to take off late. This delay won time for more legal challenges that got at least 2 Harmondsworth detainees taken off the flight. The blockade also stopped a man being deported to Sri Lanka that evening on a commercial flight, because the Reliance prison van could not drive him to the airport. Both Ghanaian women at the Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre had their tickets cancelled through their own legal challenges.

All night, we talked with our friends locked up inside, telling them what was going on outside. Detainees said they were happy there was a protest happening and thanked everyone for coming along. Organisations and individuals sent lots of messages of support. Some journalists printed stories about the blockade in newspapers like “The Guardian” and “The Independent”, and it was on the BBC.

The blockade ended at 1 o’clock in the morning. The police got a special squad to cut through the concrete blocks, and then dragged the militants away. 11 of us were arrested, but 3 militants managed to escape. Then we saw the coach driving out, hired from a company called “WH Tours”, followed by 3 prison vans. We were angry and sad, even though we had tried very hard to stop it.

The arrested comrades were kept in the police station for 36 hours. Supporters travelled to the court room for their court hearing. More riot police were waiting outside and made trouble for the people visiting the court room – 1 more person was arrested. Eventually, on Thursday evening, all the militants were released on bail. They have to come back to court on Monday 8th March, to face charges of ‘obstructing the highway’ (this means blocking a road) and ‘section 14′ (which is when the police try to ban your protest but you ignore them). But these charges are not serious and we think the police will lose in court. In fact, we think what the police did was illegal, and we can even take them to court.

We will keep supporting the people who were taken off the Ghana charter flight. They are still locked up in these horrible detention centres, without proper medical treatment or legal advice, away from their families and friends. And as for our friends who were deported, you are not forgotten either. We hope to stay in contact and keep supporting each other. When people who get deported by charter flight work together, the resistance movement gets stronger. In some countries, like Mali and Iraq, there are associations of deported people that organise protests in these countries against deportation. These have become very successful campaigns.

We can’t blockade every charter flight, but there are many different ways to fight the Border Agency and stop deportation. Our struggle continues!

***

Phone number – 07438 185537
Email – noborderslondon@riseup.net

Protest in Peckham against Mass Deportation to Nigeria

On Thursday evening Anti-deportation campaigners rallied in Peckham to condemn the mass deportation of Nigerians scheduled later that night (26 January 2012). The demonstration was a small tribute to a man on an 8-day hunger strike in protest against his deportation.

Protesters from the “No Borders” network brandished a banner demanding “Stop Deportations To Nigeria” and played music as they marched from Peckham Rye Station to the Library. The protest was well received by the largest British Nigerian community signalling a positive start to an outreach campaign aiming to raise awareness and forge links with local people. Passers-by shared stories of their personal struggles against the inequalities of the border system. One man explained that the UK Border Agency detained him for a year and deported his brother despite both living in Britain since childhood.

Just hours before the deportation an inquiry by MPs was published that warned potentially lethal force and racist language is used by security guards during the removal process [1]. And on arrival in Nigeria, these men and women face a deteriorating security situation spreading from the north as Boko Haram increase in strength. Human Rights Watch claim that the militant Islamist group killed 235 people in the first 3 weeks of 2012 [2].

During previous deportations angry scenes have erupted outside the Nigerian High Commission in London. In December 2011, the High Commissioner was ambushed by No Borders activists who called on him to stop collaborating with UKBA. Nigerian Immigration staff have been issuing emergency travel documents that the UKBA need to remove people [4]. The fee charged for this service is unknown.

A No Borders activist invited people to take part in the “No Borders Convergence”: a week-long gathering in London between 13 – 18 February 2012. He said: “From Monday to Wednesday at Goldsmiths College in New Cross, south east London, there will be workshops about stopping deportations, resistance in detention, migrant workers struggles, reports from the borders (Calais, Greece, Palestine…) plus films and food! Then from Thursday there will be 3 days of demonstrations, finishing with a “No Borders Carnival” from St Paul’s at midday on the Saturday” [5].

[Ends]

Contact: respect.nigerians@gmail.com

Twitter: fcukba

No Borders London http://london.noborders.org.uk/

More information on mass deportations www.stopdeportations.wordpress.com

“The Nigerian community makes up the oldest Black community in the United Kingdom. Over 200 years ago some of the earliest Nigerian arrivals found themselves in London as a direct result of the transatlantic slave trade.”

BBC [6]

———————

Sources:

1 Parliament http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/home-affairs-committee/news/120126/

2 Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/01/23/nigeria-boko-haram-widens-terror-campaign

3 Institute of Race Relations http://www.irr.org.uk/2010/october/ha000028.html

4 You Tube “Nigerian High Commissioner in London turns his back on deportees”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H32i3WUIneE&feature=player_detailpage

5 No Borders Convergence http://london.noborders.org.uk/convergence2012

6 BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/05/26/nigerian_london_feature.shtml

23/1/12

PRESS RELEASE

The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR) has been informed that Sweden, Norway, Holland and Denmark have arrested many Iraqi Refugees and intend to send them back to Baghdad on a joint deportation flight on the 24 or 25 January.

Rebwar one of the Iraqi Kurdish refugees in Norway contact IFIR says:

“We have a horrible life here.  We are kept in a prison. In a country knowing that refugees and human rights exist but our life is like a prison every day we are threatened.  I live with 10 other refugees and we are made to sign in at a police station every week”

Safen one of the detainees from Gavle detention centre in Sweden says:

“We are 7 Iraqi Detainees from Gavle detention centre. There are many other Iraqi detainees being held in different detention centres. They have informed us that we will be deported between 24-25 January”

Rebwar also says:

“My friend yesterday was arrested and removed to Oslo to be sent back to Iraq”

Many people who have been deported in the past have been beaten, detained and assaulted by Iraqi police when they have been deported to Baghdad Airport.

Dashty Jamal, secretary of the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees, says:

“These governments in Europe know that at this time Iraqi people are suffering from continuing violence in Iraq yet these countries still forcibly deport Iraqi refugees.   We are asking all human rights refugee rights and progressive people in European countries to stand together to stop this barbarism and demand an end to this inhuman forcible deportation policy.”

 (Ends)

Contact for photos and interviews with deportees: 07856032991, 07824996724 ifir@hotmail.co.uk

www.csdiraq.com

www.federationifir.com

—————————————————————————————————————-

Notes for editors

1. The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees campaigns for the rights of Iraqi refugees and against forcible deportations and detention.  It is a member of the Coalitions to Stop Deportations to Iraq (www.csdiraq.com)

2. The Kurdistan Regional Government in the north of Iraq refuse to accept forcible deportations after popular pressure in the region. European Governments have increased deportations direct to Baghdad in response. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/31/kurdish-uk-asylum-seekers-iraq

3. The UNHCR’s statement regarding the flights to Baghdad can be found here: http://www.unhcr.org/4c0e33e94fc.html Amnesty International has also condemned deportations to Baghdad and the UK courts have not declared it safe to deport people there.

4. Iraqi refugees continue to suffer from the forcible deportation policy. Kurdish media has reported Rebwar Aziz Mohammed Amin, who was deported on the previous Baghdad deportation flight, as suffering from severe mental illness since returning while Osman Rasul committed suicide in July this year after changes to legal aid meant he lost his legal representation to fight his immigration claim (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/asylum-seeker-osman-rasul-death-legal-aid)

5  Bombings and violence continue in Iraq with a succession of bombs in the last month.

6. Previous deportation flights have seen allegations of violence and abuse made by deportees against the security guards. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/18/iraq-deportees-asylum-seeker-claims

New Year of Chaos and Resistance Across Nigeria

• Mass protests erupt as oil subsidy removed

• Worst oil spill in a decade in Niger Delta

• State of emergency declared over Boko Haram terror attacks

Hundreds of protestors have taken to the streets and burnt tires in cities across Nigeria in a bid to shut down roads and blockade petrol stations. These angry demonstrations come as the price of fuel more than doubled overnight, from 65 Nira to 141 Nira. President Goodluck Jonathan’s suddenly removed the $8 billion oil subsidy for petrol on  New Year’s Day. Several protestors are believed to have been killed in clashes with police, who used tear gas and other weapons against the crowds.

Nigeria is oil rich but most of its citizen remain extremely poor. Nigeria exports so much of its oil without refining enough for domestic use, that it has to import fuel for its citizens to use. The oil subsidy was essential to keep fuel affordable for ordinary Nigerians, and widely regarded as their only benefit from the oil beneath their feet.

Finance minister and ex-World Bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is alleged to have pushed hard for the subsidy removal. Citizens aren’t inclined to trust government officials who claim the money saved from the oil subsidy will be well spent. Years of deeply rooted corruption and mismanagement have resulted in profound distrust of government officials in Nigeria, which is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most corrupt nations. [Source: Al Jazeera]

Nigerian human rights activist, Femi Falana, was seen at the front of protest marches as major city highways were closed. Falana recently condemned the Nigerian government’s collaboration with Britain over a ‘prisoner transfer scheme’, which will mean Nigerians serving sentences in British Jail will be deported on mass to do their time in Nigeria.

To add insult to injury, only last week saw the largest spill of Nigerian oil in a decade, by the multi-national Shell. Bonga oil field, an offshore site operated by Shell, leaked an estimated 1.68 million gallons through a damaged transfer hose to a tanker. [Source: Sunday Vangaurd]

The President had also declared a state of emergency in 15 local government areas covering Borno, Yobe, Plateau and Niger State. This was in response to the wave of bombings by Islamist group Boko Haram. An explosion on Christmas day killed an estimated 47 worshippers at a Catholic Church and no less than 52 people were shot on New Year’s Eve outside a Police station.

Meanwhile, I anticipate the British Government will continue its regime of mass deportations to Nigeria every 42 days without batting an eyelid.

“Tear gas used on supporters of Etienne Tshisekedi, who planned to declare himself president despite losing election.”

“Security forces in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have squashed an attempt by top opposition figure Etienne Tshisekedi to swear himself in as president despite officially losing recent a contested recent election.”

“Tshisekedi disputes the re-election of President Joseph Kabila in a November 28 vote that the opposition rejected as fraudulent and international observers criticised for procedural chaos and irregularities.”

“Riot trucks loaded with police carrying tear-gas grenade launchers and rifles zoomed through the streets of Kinshasa, the capital, on Friday while tanks and heavily armed republican guards were deployed inside the stadium grounds where Tshisekedi had planned his rival swearing-in ceremony.”

Continue reading here

Sri Lankan Intelligence Officials detained and interrogated the 55 Sri Lankans deported from Britain on Friday.

(Original post: http://www.nation.lk/2011/12/18/news26.htm)

“There were 48 men and seven women among them. Of them 39 were Tamils, 9 Muslims and 7 Sinhalese and hailed from various parts of the country, Airport sources said.

After questioning them for five hours, many were released while the rest were further detained to ascertain whether they were wanted in the country for illegal activities before their departure.”

Solidarity with the deportees still detained by the Sri Lankan government.

On Monday 19 December, the UK Border Agency carried out a mass deportation of Afghan asylum seekers to Kabul.

No Borders North East organized a demonstration on the 19th of December 2011 at the UK Border Agency (UKBA) Northumbria Building, in North Shields, Tyne & Wear, UK.

They raised awareness towards a Charter flight, which was later due to depart that day. After demonstrating outside, activists then attempted to directly contact UKBA staff that had the authorization to determine the flights departure.

This follows a wave of autonomous action in the UK against charter flights. On Thursday 15th December, activists in West London had organised a protest against a UK charter flight to Sri Lanka and struck at the heart of the Government’s “unjust deportation machine”, when they blocked the road outside Colnbrook and Harmondsworth immigration prisons with ‘lock-on’ devices and a tripod. On Thursday 8th December, protestors ambushed the Nigerian High Commissioner in Central London over his support for a mass deportation to Nigeria scheduled for later that evening.

Charter flights are a numbers driven exercise to remove as many people as possible. They are conducted under a veil of secrecy which denies deportees access to justice. With the secrecy surrounding charter flights it is impossible to know how many other deportees on this, and other flights have been similarly denied access to justice and equality.

The  UK asylum determination system is structured towards denying as many applications as possible. Because of this, people who are in need of sanctuary are refused status, made destitute and subjected to violent enforcement procedures. Charter flights such as this one and forced removals in general must be stopped.

Afghanistan is not safe

With regard to Afghanistan, just 2 weeks ago, Human Rights Watch reported:

‘Conflict-related violence remains a daily reality in many parts of the country.’

[Human Rights Watch – Afghanistan: A decade of Missed Opportunities 4 Dec 2011 http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/03/afghanistan-decade-missed-opportunities ]

The United Nations also has also raised concerns about conditions for people returned to Afghanistan:

‘The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that a significant number of all returnees (potentially 40 per cent) are still in need of reintegration support and that many (potentially 28 per cent) are in dire need of humanitarian assistance.’ 

UN, The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 09/03/2011. http://www.ecoi.net/file_upload/1226_1300285687_n1125034.pdf
Yet the UK Border Agency ignore these reports in favour of out of date country evidence which supports their claim that Afghanistan is a safe place.

Stop Deportations

Forced removals such as this are an illustration of the violence and indifference that are essential components of the UK’s dehumanising migration regime. The vast majority of deportations have been to countries devastated by wars and armed conflicts such as Afghanistan, Iraq, DR Congo, Nigeria, Jamaica, Sri Lanka. After being forcibly deported, many have been kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured and killed. Others have had to change their identities or move again to avoid persecution. Forcible deportations tear apart people’s lives as they are split from their families and communities and their right to freedom of movement is denied.

Stop Deportations! Freedom of Movement for all!

More on Afghanistan:

UK Government, on the Foreign and Commonwealth office’s website, states that Kabul is not a safe place:

‘No part of Afghanistan should be considered immune from violence and the potential exists throughout the country for hostile acts.’

‘The kidnap threat throughout the country remains high, particularly against local nationals.’

‘We advise against all but essential travel to Kabul. There are regular, indiscriminate rocket and bomb attacks in the city.’[1]

Anger as mass deportation of up to 75 Tamil refugees from UK to Sri Lanka went ahead yesterday (15/12/2011). The community and supporters lost two-week long battle to block the flight, despite resisting on all fronts: in the courts, in the streets and finally outside the detention centres.

Campaigners were tipped off about this mass deportation charter flight two weeks in advance, when Tamils in detention centres were given ‘removal directions’ set for December 15^th from an unknown airport. Several of these Tamil refugees had already been tortured once by the Sri Lankan government and feared it would happen to them again if deported.

The UK Border Agency’s plan was immediately condemned by human rights groups: Freedom From Torture hosted a panel discussion and published a new report with evidence of ongoing torture in Sri Lanka that documented cases where Tamils had been deported from the UK and then tortured on arrival by Sri Lankan authorities. Campaigners from Act Now went to the Home Secretary’s constituency to hand out information in the street about the dangers faced by Tamils in Sri Lanka. Legal challenges went on in the courts, saving some Tamils from the flight even on the final day. However, the flight is believed to have taken off with the majority of people onboard.

A last ditch attempt by activists to block the deportation coaches from getting to the airport was forcibly cleared by police and 5 protesters were arrested for obstructing the highway. Activists from Stop Deportation Network and No Borders had blocked off the exit to Europe’s largest migrant prison in dramatic style – just as the first coach was trying to drive out. Their simultaneous shut down of two ‘immigration removal centres’ lasted for several hours, before para-military police units were mobilised to escort coaches out through a disused road. In desperation one activist reportedly scrambled under the vehicle in a failed attempt to stop the last coach. Several of the remaining protesters looked visibly distressed once it became apparent police had out manoeuvred them. One of the coaches hired by the Home Office to deport this group of Tamil refugees was from a travel company named ‘Just Go’.

This display of State power was sadly reminiscent of how the Roma were collectively expelled from France last summer, when long convoys of coaches were tailed to the airport by even longer convoys of riot police. Mass deportations take place across Europe, and represent a resurgence of fascism as a strategy of the ruling class to whip up nationalist tensions and dissolve working-class solidarity during economic collapse. Blame the foreigner, fear the immigrant, forget capitalism is crisis. Europe’s been there before, and needs to make its mind up about where its going to go in the years to come as this recession really bites.

Mass deportations are a brutal reminder of how the British Government pays lip-service to human rights but systematically abuses refugees. Entire aircraft are chartered to deport people to some of the most dangerous or impoverished parts of the world, places were commercial aircraft rarely venture. Iraqi refugees have been deported on military planes from RAF Brize Norton. Mass deportations to Afghanistan from the UK continue to go twice a month. Where does this leave the humanitarian discourse that Britain uses to justify its wars – didn’t the British State just go to war in Libya to protect civilians?

The British State is attacking many different immigrant communities through the same intimidation tactic of mass deportations. It is a way to divide and rule migrant communities, to make them live in fear and prevent them from exposing how the British Government is complicit in the chaos that caused them to flee their homes. Look at the total policing of the Congolese community in London when they demonstrate against Britain’s involvement in the pillaging of their country. (see the DRC section of this website for more background on Western involvement in DR Congo)

This is a community who have faced mass deportations in the past and no doubt will again in the future. Practical solidarity like legal observers and info on stop and search rights can help defend communities against the State, because getting arrested at a protest or searched in the street can lead to a deportation. Somehow Britain is getting the Nigerian Government to agree to a prisoner transfer deal, meaning Nigerian’s picked up on the street in places like Peckham will do their time in a Nigerian jail. At the same time, the UK Border Agency has signaled it will stop using commercial aircraft to deport Nigerians – instead there will be a charter flight every 42 days (an escalation from one every 2 months). It doesn’t seem outlandish to suggest these two developments are linked.

Mass deportations start when the State kidnaps members of a migrant community and imprisons them in ‘immigration removal centres’ on the suspicion that they have no legal right to remain in the UK. Once people are detained, it’s easier to portray them as the bad eggs, the criminal elements who cause problems for the rest of their community. The message sent out to the community is simple: ‘this is what will happen to the rest of you if you don’t shut up’. This tactic fits in with the already close collusion between corrupt British officials and the receiving governments. These countries are not irrelevant to Britain, many of them are former colonies or have suffered from severe British interference. The power dynamic established in imperial times continues today – the former colonial master makes shadowy deals to get refugees deported, while friends-in-high-places cash in on the deal, and crucially dissidents of both governments are silenced.

From a personal point of view, its hard not to see our action yesterday as a failure because we didn’t stop the deportation and 5 people got nicked. But if this campaign is about building resistance toward the border regime, then yesterday’s action was a step forward. When we make a stand and bring new people to these protests, we grow awareness of the situation. We have started to build better links with Tamil community groups, anti-deportation campaigners and lawyers. Creating spaces (be they protests, benefit gigs, info-nights, blogs, community media, mailing lists etc) to share information about charter flights and all the different ways people have resisted them will help weave together a powerful network of the different migrant communities affected by mass deportations. The Tamil community is being assaulted in a new way by the British State – this was the third charter flight from UK to Sri Lanka since June this year. Our action was a show of solidarity and a demonstration that more powerful and direct resistance could be successful in the future…I fear it might be called on again in less than 3 months time.

Of course I don’t think we will stop the deportation machine through a successful blockade of one charter flight. ‘No borders’ is an idea that people have the right to move freely across the earth and not be trapped behind borders. The power of this idea depends on a realisation that borders are repressive and not protective. This realisation occurs when we force the State to burst out from behind its fluffy liberal clothes to reveal the authoritarian core that lies at the heart of any State apparatus. When citizens stop automatically consenting to the authority of the State, it inevitably responds with coercion to maintain ‘public order’. When citizens disobey the law in solidarity with the ‘sans-papier’, we show it isn’t normal or socially acceptable to deport people: it’s abnormal and abhorrent. Borders aren’t protective: torture survivors get sent back to the governments that tortured them. Borders are repressive: mass deportations are military-style operations that need a parallel, purpose-built prison network of 11 Immigration Removal Centres in the UK.

When we protest outside migrant prisons and try to block a charter flight, we make this realisation more visible. Because this time we didn’t let the coach leave quietly. It was escorted out by riot vans, flanked by coppers and shadowed by a police helicopter. The everyday invisible resistance of migrants behind the bars of detention centres or in the belly of a deportation charter flight was repeated and made more visible by acts of solidarity outside. Twice the refugees in the coaches saw people trying to block the deportation, and saw they hadn’t been forgotten about.

Solidarity with the deported and with the arrested.

Tamils Against Genocide (TAG-UK), an activist group that assists in obtaining legal redress to war-affected Tamil civilians, filed a legal action in the British High Court Tuesday claiming that UK government’s policy to proceed with the deportation of failed asylum seekers to Sri Lanka was a breach of legitimate expectation of policy review following serious concerns of returnee safety revealed in the UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) report and the submissions by independent NGOs including Freedom From Torture (FfT) and Amnesty International to UNCAT, legal sources in London said. The British Government has reportedly organized a chartered flight to return nearly fifty failed asylum seekers to Sri Lanka on 15th December.

Repost. Read full article here – http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=34700

Massive police operation in central london (10/12/11) to control a passionate but mainly peaceful protest by up to 1000 congolese people which began in whitehall, spreading to trafalgar square, and with further breakaway groups marching through the west end. mainstream coverage has been minimal.

REPOST. See full article here http://london.indymedia.org/articles/11271

Today’s protest follows two others this week, with serious clashes between police and hundreds of protestors outside downing street on tuesday, and on thursday evening oxford circus was closed down for a while, and police arranged for an empty train to ferry protestors to seven sisters station for dispersal in tottenham.

but you’d be hard-pressed to find much about these events on bbc or other mainstream media other than a brief report of 143 arrests this evening, with no explanation of the issues other than it being ‘a demonstration over election results’.

well, according to the very passionate voices on the streets tonight, the issue is years of mass rape, genocide, and repression (with UN estimates of more than 5 million, nearly a tenth of the population, murdered in the past decade) and the western states’ support for an illegitimate leader after rigged elections.

the protestors believe that joseph kabila, who this week was announced as clear leader in the first democratic elections in the country in 40 years, is a corrupt rwandan military man with a deadly army unit of 7000 soldiers who is supported by western interests. they believe that etienne tshisekedi has a much larger popular vote, with estimates of support above 50%.

it is not hard to see why the west would meddle in the affairs of this huge country. it has vast mineral wealth, being the main world source of ‘coltan’ used widely in mobile phones, as well as cobalt, copper, uranium, gold, diamonds, tin, and zinc. as is often the case in africa, despite these huge resources, the standard of living of ordinary people in this rich country has been spiralling downwards for years.

the congolese protestors see cameron, sarkozy, and obama as the three biggest hypocrites, looters, and supporters of the illegitimate regime responsible for the human rights abuses in their country. with the first results of the election coming out, they see western support as a key ingredient in the rigged vote.

on tuesday a few hundred congo supporters blocked whitehall outside downing street, and as police TSG cleared the road, one protestor was violently head-butted and received a broken nose (fortunately caught on video by activists and soon to emerge).

today, up to a thousand protested again in whitehall, and the road was blocked for hours with a huge police containment operation failing to get to grips with the protest, and breakway groups forming further road blocks around trafalgar square and other parts of london.

Article continued at http://london.indymedia.org/articles/11271
Contact email: rikkiindymedia(At)gmail[dot]com