Coalition "Solidarity with Migrants - Bulgaria" organized a protest against immigration detention. It will be held on November 17 in front of the refugee center in Busmantsi from 5 p.m., and will be preceded by online discussion on alternatives to immigration detention on November 16, 2024, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
The demands of the protest are:
Remove restrictions on communication and supplies to detainees in refugee centers. If you can't take care of our loved ones and friends, don't stop us from doing it!;
An end to police violence, a fair investigation of incidents, an adequate complaint system for detainees and real access to information about their rights;
Unconditional access to health care and health care for residents, removal of restrictions;
Immediate decriminalization of solidarity with people in distress at the borders. Saving a life is not a crime!;
End the unofficial but de facto criminalization of migration - immigration detention centers function as prisons for the deprivation of liberty, to punish people who are innocent without proof, not as "special homes" or "reception centers";
Stop transnational repression of dissidents, including with the participation of DANS, and deportations to countries with dictatorial, anti-democratic regimes, martial law and/or compulsory military service, including Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Russia, Belarus, Afghanistan, Palestine, etc.;
Closing refugee centers and replacing them with humane alternatives to detention, such as networks of activist-supported solidarity shelters and community funding programs that allow local NGOs or host families to sponsor migrants by providing them with shelter, financial support and assistance for social inclusion, etc.;
These and other alternative forms of migration detention, which guarantee the existence of a support system and adaptation to European living conditions, without a threat to national security and the well-being of the Bulgarian democratic community, will be the specific focus of Saturday's online discussion, for which registrations flow through the following form, until the participation places are filled:
The discussion will be entirely in Bulgarian, with a second meeting planned in English and with international participation, which will take place the week after the protest.