Dinner Against Deportations - 01-12-2009

Delicious food and updates from community campaigns against deportations. Tuesday, 1st December, 6-9pm @ Grayston Centre, 28 Charles Square, London, N1 6HT. Free or donation. >> details

Mass deportations, Mass resistance - public forum

A public forum to build resistance against mass deportations organised by Stop Deportation.
Saturday, 7th November 2009, 12-5pm @ the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London.
Venue: The Forum will be held in Room V221 at the Vernon Square Campus of the School of Oriental and African Studies (Penton Rise, WC1X 9EW), close to King's Cross (map). >> details

Yarl's Wood blockader imprisoned for refusing to pay fine

An anti-deportation campaigner who took part in a blockade of Yarl's Wood detention centre in July 2009 has been sentenced to 16 days in prison for refusing to pay her fine. Zelda Jeffers had been fined £450 by Bedford Magistrates Court on 2nd November for taking part in the Stop Deportation protest on 30th June against a mass deportation flight to Nigeria via Dublin on that day. >> more

Update: Zelda has been released after serving half her term (8 days) >> more details

Protest outside the Home Office against Iraq deportations

About 50 people gathered outside the Home Office in central London on Monday, 26th October, demanding the immediate release of Iraqi detainees who were deported to Baghdad two weeks ago but were returned to detention after the Iraqi authorities refused to admit them. A number of them have been on hunger strike since Monday, 19th October, in protest at their continued detention and inhumane treatment. >> See pictures on Indymedia

Iraq deportation protest in Parliament Sq

Anti-deportation campaigners gathered in Parliament Square, London, on Saturday, 17th October, to protest against the first (failed) mass deportation flight to Baghdad. The demonstration, called by the Stop Deportation Network and the International Federation of Iraqi Refugee, saw protesters holding banners and placards and shouting slogans against forcible deportation in general and to a war zone like Iraq in particular. Speakers, including veteran anti-war protester Brian Haw, denounced the British government's hypocrisy and its role in creating the Iraqi refugee crisis through its involvement in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Two deportees, who had been returned to Brook House detention centre after the flight was turned away at Baghdad airport by the Iraqi authorities, also spoke on the phone and told protesters, via a megaphone, of the violence and mistreatment they had experienced during the deportation at the hands of immigration officers and private security guards. >> See pictures on Indymedia

Stop deportations to Iraq!

The first mass deportation flight to Baghdad carried around 40 people early on Thursday, 15th October, on a specially chartered plane provided by Air Italy. We have since learnt that 10 of the deportees were taken off the flight in Baghdad while the rest were not accepted by the Iraqi government and were flown back to detention in the UK. A Home Office statement said they will "iron out" the difficulties they faced and "expect to carry out another flight."
>> read and sign statement

Dinner Against Disportations, 20-10-2009

Delicious food and updates from community campaigns against deportations. Tuesday, 20th October, 6-9pm @ Waterloo Action Centre (14 Baylis Road, Waterloo, London, SE1 7AA).
>> DETAILS

Stop Deportation benefit gig, 03-10-2009

The Stop Deportation network is organising a benefit gig at the rampART social centre in Whitechapel, London, on Saturday, 3rd October 2009. All proceeds go to fund supporting refugees and migrants threatened with deportation, campaigning and direct action against mass deportations.
@ rampART, 15 -17 Rampart Street, London E1 2LA (near Whitechapel, off Commercial Rd). From 7pm.
>> DETAILS

Campaigners blockade Colnbrook to stop Iraq mass deportation flight

12 May 2009. For the second time in less than two months, anti-deportation campaigners blockaded a detention centre to try and prevent a mass deportation flight to Iraqi Kurdistan. Six activists from the Stop Deportation network locked themselves together, using glass and plastic arm tubes attached to heavy concrete barrels, blocking the entrance to Colnbrook detention centre near Heathrow, where some 45 of the deportees were being held. The blockade lasted for over four hours, after which three coaches carrying the deportees left for an undisclosed airport. All six were arrested (two quite violently) for obstruction of the highway.
>> read more | photos | video

Campaigners blockade Tinsley House to stop Iraq mass deportation flight

17 March 2009. About 20 campaigners from Stop Deportation blockaded Tinsley House detention centre at Gatwick airport, where some Iraqi refugees due for deportation were being held. Using D-locks and superglue, the aim of the protest was to try and prevent the deportees being taken from the detention centre to Stanstead airport, where a special charter flight to Iraqi Kurdistan was scheduled that afternoon. The blockade was violently removed by police after about 6 hours and Tinsley deportees, along with some 50 others brought from Campsfield and Dover detention centres, were put on the flight, which landed in Sulaimaniyya around 10pm. Nine protesters, including the six locked and glued to the gate, were arrested under Section 69 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (failure to leave land after a warning) and taken to Crawley police station. They were released on conditional bail later that night and are due in court on 30th March.
>> read more | photos | video