This is the seventh person who died this year in the Basque Country in the migration process. The body was found on Saturday in the Bidasoa River, in the area of Endarlatsa de Irun (Gipuzkoa). The 38-year-old man from Côte d'Ivoire has been arrested by the police. On Sunday, the Irun Reception Network held a mass rally of "mourning and denunciation" against the town hall and denounced that it is "another victim of bad reception policies". In a statement, they stressed that this is an “announced death”, as early in November they warned that the conditions were being met to “encourage people on a migratory journey to Northern Europe to take unnecessary risks”.

They accuse the Basque Government, the Council of Gipuzkoa and the City Hall of Irun of responsibility, and they criticize that they are “playing with the lives” of migrants who want to move from Gipuzkoa to Lapurdi, taking advantage of the “despair” they have to cross the border that they see 100 meters away: “From the perspective of having to sleep on the street, they are inciting to take the risk of swimming.” The volunteer network has denounced for the umpteenth time the “increasingly demanding” closure of the border between Irun and Hendaia and, furthermore, the “poor reception” of migrants in transit in Irun. According to reports, in the last week at least ten people have been refused access to the centre of the Spanish Ministry of the Interior that manages the Red Cross for not meeting the "criteria". Therefore, “even though there is room there”, they have had to be welcomed in private houses.

The Irun Reception Network has claimed for the umpteenth time that all institutions will be able to “do more” to “alleviate the suffering” of migrants in transit: “We are not worth hearing the complaints of institutional representatives about border closures or about the importance of people’s lives, if they do not do their best to avoid them.” They have called for "real reception policies".

Concentration on the Santiago Bridge

Today, Monday, at 19:00 a.m. there will be a concentration on the Santiago Bridge, which connects Irun and Hendaya, as it passes through the Bidasoa. The Irun Reception Network joins the Etorkin, Diakite, La Cimade and Elkartasuna Larrun associations. The citizens of Ipar and Hego Euskal Herria have been called to perform a human chain on each side of the bridge, and they have proposed to bring candles and rockets for it.

?? *CONCENTRATION / CONCENTRATION* ? ?

? 22 November November

?19:00

? Puente de Santiago

— Irungo Harrera Sarea (@InasmetHS) November 21, 2021