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Rome: Immigration prison set on fire by detainees
Thursday 2 April 2009
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«Total chaos!» At midnight on 30th March, this text message was sent from
one of the detainees inside Ponte Galeria, the immigration prison in Rome,
Italy. An hour prior to the text, a riot inside the detention centre had
started: mattresses were burnt and two huge fires reached the infirmary.
Some of the detainees were on the roof, while others broke three or four
doors and reached the outer fence. The detention centre was soon full of
riot police. Gunshots were heard around 1.20am.
There riot has allegedly caused €200,000 worth of damage; a hydraulic and
electric system was put out of order; four people escaped and an unknown
number of detainees were moved to other detention centres, while 17 were
arrested. They are due in court on 31st March.
Since the 1st March, when the Red Cross handed over the management of the
detention centre to another organisation, detainees have been on hunger
strike and several riots have taken place over since then. They were
rebelling against the use of violence and the daily abuse at the hands of
the police with the complicity of the centre’s management.
The detainees are forced to live in unbearable conditions: unsanitary and
unhealthy environment, off food, drugs (including Valium) put in the food
and drinks. The riots and other forms of protest, such as self-harm, are
the desperate response of people who have been imprisoned for up to six
months only because they do not have the right documents.
On Wendsday, 31 March, at 8:30 am, there will be a sit-in at piazzale
Clodio, in front of the court, in solidarity with the detainees who tried
to rebel.
At 19:00, there will be a meeting at the Forte Prenestino squat for
organising an immediate collective response to what is happening at Ponte
Galeria and beyond.
NELLA TUA CITTÀ C’È UN LAGER
CHIUDIAMO TUTTI I C.I.E.
There is a lager (detention camp) in your city!
Close all the immigration prisons!
For further information:
http://www.autistici.org/macerie
http://www.ondarossa.info
http://www.noinonsiamocomplici.noblogs.org