The caravan Mugak Zabalduz denounces the migration policies in the actions carried out in Tenerife and Gran Canaria
- The National Police arrested a person during the demonstration on 21 July at the Government Sub-delegation in Madrid. The demonstrators have made a protest until they have freed their colleague, who has been arrested. During the 19 July action in Gran Canaria, the portal of the Border Police headquarters has been covered by horse excrement.
The caravan Mugak Zabalduz has organised a series of actions to denounce the immigration policies in Gran Canaria and Tenerife imposed by Europe. There have been 350 mobilizations and the people have also approached the Basque Country. Demonstrations, marches and conferences have been held since Sunday in Bilbao and Donostia-San Sebastián. Throughout the week, those detained in migrant camps have disseminated their testimonies and reminded those who have died on their way to Europe.
The association said in February that the situation that has been experienced in the Canary Islands in recent months is unsustainable for migrants: “The model applied in Lesbos is also being applied in the islands by the Government of Spain.” They have denounced that they want to present the islands as a "wall" and have censored that they want to "facilitate collective expulsions" and "isolate" those who come to them while they remain in detention centres.
The association has put on the table an example of the camps of Barranco Seco (Gran Canaria) and Las Roots (Tenerife). A group of migrants refuses to enter the centre of Tenerife and stay to sleep outdoors until they stop traveling to Europe. The Mugak Zabalduz association has denounced that the conditions of Las Roots are regrettable: “Little food, cold water, crowds of people, cold and the inability to receive decent services from doctors, lawyers and translators”, in addition to police mistreatment. The Doctors of the World Association uncovered the precarious conditions in which this macro center is located in April and asked the Spanish Government to intervene in it.
Other institutions in defence of the rights of migrants have also expressed solidarity with the migrant people of the centres. The Mugak Zabalduz association has considered the case as an opportunity for the protests to take place on both islands. On Monday and Wednesday, two of the most important activities of the day took place.
A detainee in Tenerife
On 21 July, the demonstration took place in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in front of the sub-delegation of the Government. According to El Salto, the National Police ran into the activists and one of them was arrested. The protesters sat on the road cutting the road until they released their colleague, who was arrested by the police. Afterwards, they continued the march.
Horseback crap in the Canary Islands
Days earlier, the Mugak Zabalduz Association organized the activities in Gran Canaria. On Wednesday, July 19, several people gathered in front of the Border Police headquarters in Las Palmas to symbolize that "frontex is dirty". At the door of the building, a small trail covered with horse droppings was formed and a cry against immigration policies was launched.
Alea has taken up the opinion of the association on the methods it uses to manage Europe’s borders. In the opinion of the activists, the police practice “necropolitics” by returning migrants to their countries of origin: “There are many violations of the rights denounced.”
With the Zabalduz caravan in the city of Bihac in Bosnia Herzegovina, activist Nihad Suljic explained to us that the Drina River is the largest tomb in the Balkans. In order not to be forgotten, he is responsible for identifying the bodies that are found and for giving them... [+]
