On the first day we were 14 refugees. A few left, a few joined, now we are ten. Today is our fourth day in dry hungerstrike in front of Landratsamt Dingolfing-Landau. There were bad media reports about us. Now we want to clarify some points.
In the beginning our demand was the transfer from the camp/ “Lager” in the periphery to a bigger city, because here we have many problems. We didn’t choose to live in a rural area. Here we aren’t mobile and we are far away from civilization. Furthermore, we are subject to residential obligation/ “Residenzpflicht”.
On Thursday, the 13th of March 2014 we were in the building of the authority, called Landratsamt. There we made a sit-in. After short time, few police officers came. Their behavior towards us was inappropriate and angry. They asked for more time till the 25th of March to check our application for transfer. Because of the police presence we had to leave the building. We decided to stay in front of the authority till a decision is taken.
On the next day we received a document that they won’t do anything concerning our demands. They totally rejected everything.
Then we took the decision that we won’t stop the strike and raised the demand for our basic rights. We decided this because, among other things, other refugees from different Lagers and different cities joined us. Our decision to make a strong united protest needed strong demands, which concerns all of us: Transfer to bigger cities, acceptance of our asylum applications, abolition of residential obligation/ “Residenzpflicht”, abolition of camps/ “Lager” and stop of all deportations.
Every day, three to four times, the house owner of the camp in Oberhausen visits the protest camp. He blames our supporters that they are forcing us to this action. He also tells to media that our supporters are instrumentalising us. Furthermore he spreads wrong information. Now he tries to brainwash us and to convince us that he cares so much for us.
Yesterday the Governor/ “Landrat” Mr. Trapp (SPD) visited us. In the discussion he blamed us as terrorists. He told us that we should be thankful that we are allowed to live here. We are not terrorists and have never killed anyone in our countries of origin. No one has the right to kill someone. No one likes to leave the country of origin and the own family.
Yesterday night we called at 11:18 p.m. the ambulance. Also after a second call at 11:30 p.m. no emergency service showed up. Just at 11:43 p.m. an ambulance reached the protest camp. Without any hurry they had a conversation with the cops, who were close to us. Then they turned to us, addressed the people standing around and the person concerned in an aggressive and unprofessional way and took the person finally to hospital. Is this fair justice?
We are disappointed of the system because we only want the same rights as citizens. We do have the right of self determination. We are no animals. The law should provide good facilities for all the human beings. We are not apart from Refugee Struggle For Freedom. We are in solidarity with all refugee struggles. We are a big family. The members of Refugee Struggle For Freedom are our friends. They provide us with stuff, like sleeping bags and pavilions, so that we can continue our struggle. No activists are teaching us. We know our rights. We fight self-determinated for our rights. We do not need any guides or leaders, we only need the fulfillment of our rights.
We are refugees, we demand justice and it is justice we are still fighting for.
In solidarity with Refugee Protest Camp Wien, Lampedusa in Hamburg, O-Platz Berlin and Refugee Streik Amberg and all the other fighting refugees.
The Dry Hungerstriking Non-Citizens