Stop deporting children - actions

19th Nov 05: Day of Action -
Stop Deporting Children and Students!
"My name is Daniel. I'm 15.
Me and my family face deportation to the Congo. There is a war there and my life would be finished. One of my mum's friends was deported and killed in a prison in Congo.

If we go back, we might also end up in prison, so please help us. I am scared that I would be forced to become a soldier. I don't want to be a child soldier. I want to be a football player. I play for a local team - when I'm older, I want to play for England" - Daniel Sukula.

Stop All Deportations ! Scrap Section 9!

click for more info and details of demos in Manchester and London:

29 October: European day of action

Call for a coordinated day of action against the brutality at European borders
21.Oct.05 - The collective attempts by more than four thousand migrants to cross the borders between Africa and Europe have shown the brutality of the European border regime. In the last two weeks ten people were shot dead by border police. Since then, Moroccan authorities have rounded up and "deported" more than 2,500 people, and abandoned them without food and water in the Sahara Desert. More than 36 people have died there so far.

The news of the past two weeks shows only a small part of the brutality at Europe’s borders, where hundreds of migrants drown every year crossing the Straights of Gibraltar, suffocate in trucks, or are blown up by landmines in the fields between Greece and Turkey.

The reaction of the Spanish Government and the European Commission is military reinforcement of the borders and externalising the “management” of migrants. European colonialism and economic policies created the situations that are forcing people to flee.

Now, being pushed by the German government and others, refugees are being made invisible to Europe; caught way before the borders and held in “transit” prisons far away. Third countries, such as Morocco are made to handle the situation in exchange for economic aid. The EU has given 40 million Euro to Morocco to build up border defences. The Moroccan government uses these deals to systematically violate human rights, torturing, deporting and murdering migrants.

Across Europe groups are organising acts to reject this brutality at the borders. We are calling for a coordinated day of action on 29th October 2005.

No more deaths at the Border.No one is Illegal.

European No Border Network:
www.noborder.org

20/10/05 Public meeting: Vucaj family

VUCAJ FAMILY Public Meeting 20 Oct
6.45 PM Thursday 20 October 2005

STUC BUILDING, 333 Woodlands Road, Glasgow G3

Film footage of the Vucaj children in Northern Albania.
Speakers include: Peter Mullan, Robina Qureshi. Contributions from politicians, supporters and friends of the Vucaj family. To be followed by audience questions.

Peter Mullan, Glasgow’s award winning actor and director, will lead the launch of a new campaign designed to return the recently deported Vucaj family back to Glasgow and Scotland.

Called “They belong to Glasgow”, Mullan will introduce a film and speak about his recent trip to Albania to meet the Vucaj family. Footage of the trip and an interview with 13 year old Saida Vucaj will be shown and Peter will be joined by politicians from across the political spectrum and young friends of Saida, Elvis and Nimet from Drumchapel, Glasgow. The campaign objective is the safe return of the Vucaj family by any legal means possible

“These children have lived in Glasgow for five years. Saida was only seven when she arrived. She is now 13 and her and her two brothers, Elvis (18) and Nimet (16) consider themselves Glaswegian and Scottish. We are determined to organise their safe return to our city where they were welcomed and educated. I plead to First Minister Jack McConnell and Scotland’s Parliament to help them to return. This is their home, not Albania. Saida, in particular, is in danger. Child trafficking for prostitution is rife in Northern Albania where they have been returned to. We need them back now before it’s too late.”
- Robina Qureshi, Positive Action in Housing

“Saida, Nimet and Elvis Vucaj belong to Glasgow. They think like Glaswegians, they talk like Glaswegians. They have been forcibly kidnapped from us and transplanted into a country that can best be described as pre-industrial. Their new home is an empty hovel on a Northern Albanian mountain that was ransacked in their absence and is the direct line of a major sex trafficking route leaving them unspeakably vulnerable. These young Glaswegian kids have been taken from us and abandoned to a life of unimaginable despair. One of the few men who remain of the village stepped forwards to the kids when we were with them and asked what they were doing there. The kids said they didn’t know - they were Scottish. He opened up a weird toothless smile and said “You must go. Stay here and you die”. All we ask is that these children are brought back to the only home that they know, Glasgow!”
- Peter Mullan

more info at html://www.paih.org

14/10/05 Kupeli family abducted

14 Oct 05: Kupeli Family - another dawn raid in Glasgow


On Monday 14, October 2005, a 12 strong immigration snatch squad carried out a dawn raid in Norfolk Court, Gorbals, the home of the Kupeli family - Mr Sinan Kupeli (38), wife Songul (37) and daughters Suna (9) and Yagmur (6½) - from their home and community in the Gorbals, where they have lived for the past 5 years.

Immigration officers forced Mr & Mrs Kupeli into the living room, handcuffed Mr Kupeli, and dragged their sleeping children from their beds. Mrs Kupeli is still grieving for her four month old baby Helin who is buried at Linn Cemetery, Glasgow. She begged immigration officers to let her mak e a final visit to her daughter's burial site. The officers refused and instead handcuffed her. Her daughters Suna and Yagmur were kept in their bedroom by other officers and could only hear their mother's cries. It was left to a tearful Suna to comfort her terrified 6½ year old sister. They said they wanted their mum and dad but the immigration officers said no.

The parents and children were then taken in separate vans to Brand Street immigration office. At 9 am, the family were taken to Yarls Wood Removal Centre, Bedfordshire for removal to Turkey. Blackfriars primary school pupils were shocked when they realised that the two sisters were not off sick but had disappeared overnight. Likewise the staff and volunteers at Bridging the Gap who provided constant support.

The Kupeli family's treatment echoes that of the Vucaj family when they were dragged from their beds at dawn on September 13, 2005. Despite the First Minister's assurances on September 23, dawn raids have not stopped. The criminalisation and dehumanisation of Scottish asylum families continues.

We are calling for an end to Scotland's shame and a restoration of dignity.