Sit-in in terminal Rotterdam Airport against deportations and Frontex

From 12pm to 2pm today about 50 participants from the No Border Camp 2022 in Rotterdam held a sit-in in the terminal of Rotterdam The Hague Airport, with banners, flyers and speeches. They protested against deportation flights that regularly take place from this airport, as well as against EU border guard agency Frontex and its increasing role in coordinating and stimulating deportations.

Deportations are a central aspect of Europe’s border and migration policies, that focus on getting or keeping refugees out of the EU. Noah of the camp organisation said: ‘With this action we target the role of this airport in facilitating deportations. Refugees are violently removed and brought to unsafe countries where they have to face war, repression, poverty or hunger. We also put the spotlight on EU border guard agency Frontex, which plays an ever more central role in stimulating and coordinating joint deportations from EU countries.’ Last year, Frontex supported the deportations of 18,300 persons.

The action at the airport, where people are also standing outside with banners and flyers to inform passengers and visitors, is the final public activity of the No Border Camp. The camp, which started on Monday at Giessenweg 25 in Rotterdam, brought hundreds of international activists together for meetings, workshops, culture and actions against Europe’s border and migration policies. The international Abolish Frontex campaign is a spearhead of the camp.

Abolish Frontex is a decentralised and autonomous network of at the moment some 130 groups and organisations from EU countries and beyond. The aim of Abolish Frontex is not to reform or improve EU border guard agency Frontex, or to replace it with more of the same. But rather to target the policies and system that keeps Frontex in place. Abolish Frontex is working towards ending the EU border regime, dismantling the border-industrial complex, and building a society where people are free to move and live.

A part of the group continued the action with a short solidarity demonstration at the detention center next to the airport. On Wednesday a large solidarity demo was held there as well.

Author: nbc

Supporting No Border Camps in Europe. #AbolishFrontex

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