Caravan denounces the militarisation of Europe’s borders and the closure of its ports
- The caravan Ampliando Fronteras paid tribute to the migrant people who died in the Mediterranean Sea on the 19th of each month. For this, the activists were divided into two groups. The first carried out a special action in the port of Catania itself, while the other carried out a special action on the outskirts of the boarding center located in the port of Pozzano. Later, on the trail, a demonstration was held in Catania against the Frontex agency, which spies on Europe’s external borders, along with several local agents.
The 300 men and women of the Ampliacion Fronteras caravan split into two groups to go to the ports of Pozzalo and Catania on the morning of the events. The first ones approached the “hotspot” of the port of Pozzano, located in the south of Sicily. There is a detention centre with a capacity to accommodate 231 migrants arriving in Italy, but there are currently 401 fully overcrowded persons. Of all of them, 101 are minors and unprotected relatives.
Migrants arriving in Italy can stay in this detention centre in Pozzano for up to 72 hours. During this period of time, they can move freely during the day, but at night they must return to their rooms. Nino Trillo, a member of the Expanding Borders caravan in Madrid, had the opportunity to talk to the person in charge of the center, who explained that those who are held there are concentrated in 130 rooms, mixed. This infrastructure has a maximum capacity of 231 people, but there are currently 401 people. In addition, Trillo regrets that 800 people have ever been accommodated there. The rooms do not have bathrooms, which are closed at night, except in family rooms. He also denounced the insufficiency of the medical service available there: there is only one doctor in the centre.
Meanwhile, in Catania, the second group presented the international campaign for open and safe ports at a press conference. The presentation was attended by 50 men and women from the CARA retention center in Mineo, the vast majority of whom were men.
In both ports, actions were carried out to pay tribute to the migrant people killed in the Mediterranean Sea and to denounce these murders. To do this, the group that stopped in Catania threw themselves half-naked on the ground, with their bodies full of red paint. On the other hand, the people of Pozzalo plunged into the sea to represent the inanimate bodies on the water, “through these actions we have wanted to imagine that the criminal policies of the governments of the European Union kill migrant people,” explains one of the activists.
So far, 1,103 people have died this year while crossing the road between Libya and Italy. Faced with this, the Expanding Borders caravan has on many occasions called on governments to put in place legal and safe access routes to Europe so that deaths can be avoided.
On the trail, members of the caravan participated in a demonstration in Catania against militarization and border closure. The protest ended at the headquarters of Frontex, the European border control agency. In it, they made a theater to represent the problems that migrant people suffer to arrive in Europe, under the heading "No to the border, no to Frontex".
This news has been published by Hiruka.eus and we have brought it to LUZ thanks to the license CC-by-sa.
