The Home Office is attempting, despite widespread outrage and growing opposition, to press ahead with its shocking plans for offshore detention in Rwanda. Its first forced flight is set to take off on Tuesday 14 June, with two boys aged 16 among the passenger list. Care4Calais legal team are now fighting to halt the flight. It is estimated that over 70 percent of those with Rwanda notices have suffered torture or trafficking either in their home countries, or on the incredibly dangerous journeys they have made. As Care4Calais reported:
“Of the 70 people we are working with, 10 have had notices to say their deportation is imminent, and six specifically mention the 14 June – two of the boys say that they are just 16 years old.
“The Home Office say they are 23 and 26 so it is essential that proper age assessments are done before any deportation takes place. Our lawyers will fight for that. One 16 year old saw his brother killed in front of him when his village was raided in Sudan.
“Such people should not be held in detention centres at all, and the fabulous law firms we are working with are busy challenging this on their behalf. There is a more humane and civilised solution right in front of us now.”
The PCS and Care4Calais joint legal challenge of Priti Patel’s murderous plan for ‘pushbacks’ in the Channel successfully halted that particular heinous aspect of the government’s intensification of the racist hostile environment.
On 25 May, the PCS union, Care4Calais and Stand Up To Racism launched a campaign against government plans for offshore detention in Rwanda.
Stand Up To Racism is calling a day of action on Tuesday 14 June, with a social media campaign to share selfies with “Stop Rwanda Detention” signs and #StopRwanda. All local groups should organise alongside others to gather protest Rwanda offshore detention in their localities, sharing pictures with the posters using the hashtags, and seeking the broadest involvement possible from across the anti racist, refugee rights and trade union movements . The 14 June day of action will be launched on the eve of the planned flight, with a protest outside Downing Street, Monday 13 June.
Meanwhile, a year on from the magnificent battle of Kenmure Street, where thousands blocked the departure of a Home Office van and forced the release of two of their captured neighbours, similar mass actions have stopped raids in Edinburgh and Hackney.
Thursday 26 May saw over 120 people turn out at Stand Up To Racism’s Manchester rally – the first in a series of local mobilising rallies across Britain under the theme, From Offshore Detention to the Nationality and Border Act, End the Hostile Environment.
Further mobilising rallies are lined up around Refugee Week in June, to scrap the borders act, oppose offshore detention in Rwanda, and organise networks in localities that can challenge the hostile environment, and stop detention raids when the Home Office attempts to inflict these attacks on our neighbours:
Leeds rally, Tue 14 June, 7pm
York rally, Fri 17 June, 7pm
Glasgow rally, Mon 20 June, 7pm
Sheffield rally, Wed 22 June, 7pm
Birmingham rally, Thu 23 June, tbc
Stand Up To Racism is also organising a ‘Stop Rwanda Offshoring – All Refugees welcome’ bloc on the TUC’s national demonstration on Saturday 18 June, alongside Care4Calais and Together With Refugees and with support of Refugee Council, the PCS union and others.
