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Marco Arbouw, amsterdamcentraal.nl
24 oktober 2007 - Amsterdam
 Het perron van het metrostation is vergeven van agenten in gele vestjes. De uitgangen zijn afgezet. Tussen de OV-chippoortjes is een heuse fuik gemaakt. Links en rechts van de roltrap worden negroïde en mediterraan uitziende reizigers betast, bevingerd en naar hun papieren gevraagd. Nou zullen we het hebben, denk ik.
In ijltempo inventariseer ik de inhoud van mijn zakken. Drugs heb ik niet bij me. Al jaren niet, trouwens. Met mijn zakmes kun je amper een boterham smeren, laat staan dat je het als wapen zou kunnen gebruiken. En voor de verandering heb ik zelfs mijn rijbewijs op zak. Mij kan, kortom, niets gebeuren. Maar allicht houd ik er een stoer verhaal aan over: 'ik ben gisteren nog gefouilleerd, mooi dat ze niks gevonden hebben.'
Nee dus. Bovenaan de roltrap wil ik me aansluiten in de rij van fouillé's. Ik heb mijn vervoers- en legitimatiebewijs al netjes in de hand. Maar een van de dienstdoende agenten beduidt met een hoofdknik dat ik mag doorlopen. Als ik hem vragend aankijk knikt hij opnieuw: 'en vlug wat'. Blijkbaar is het te druk. Ook op straatniveau worden reizigers gecontroleerd en gefouilleerd. En ook hier lijkt de politie zich op kleurlingen te concentreren.
Een half uur later, mijn boodschappen gedaan, passeer ik opnieuw de fuik bij de ingang. Agenten, beveiligers en GVB-personeel zijn nog steeds driftig aan het controleren. Maar terwijl mijn allochtone medereizigers links en rechts worden beklopt, word ik opnieuw vriendelijk doorgewuifd.
Zoiets zou ik kunnen opschrijven, maar geen hond zou me geloven. Ik zou worden beticht van linkse stemmingmakerij. Mocht een koddebeier mijn schrijfsels lezen, dan zou hij me verwijten dat ik het altijd maar op ambtenaren en bestuurders gemunt heb. Dat kunnen we niet hebben.
Dus besluit ik het nog eens te proberen. Wordt er nog gefouilleerd of hoe zit dat? Ik verlaat het metrostation en betreed het opnieuw door een andere ingang. Een agente sommeert twee Surinaamse omaatjes om hun boodschappentassen uit te pakken. (Daar zit nog heel wat in, overigens. Vooral de hot sauce ziet er link uit.) Haar collega monstert me met een vlugge blik en gebaart dat ik naar binnen mag.
Ik sta nogal kritisch tegenover de etnoparanoïa die onder veel van mijn gekleurde stads(deel)genoten heerst. En eerlijk is eerlijk: in mijn leven heb ik slechts één fouilleeractie meegemaakt. Dat is - zelfs na drie pogingen - niet wat je noemt een representatieve steekproef. Het zij verre van mij om de verkeerde conclusies te trekken. Maar in dit geval laadt de politie op z'n minst de schijn op zich dat er selectief wordt gefouilleerd.
Naar aanleiding van de recente steekpartijen in Slotervaart gaan er weer stemmen op om preventief fouilleren in de hele stad toe te staan. Over de wenselijkheid en effectiviteit van een dergelijke maatregel, alsmede de politieke motieven die eraan ten grondslag liggen, wordt levendig gediscussieerd. Ook op deze site. Daarbij worden de steekincidenten op één hoop geveegd met de autobranden waaraan - althans bij mijn weten - geen verborgen wapens te pas komen. Een jerrycan stop je nu eenmaal moeilijk in je binnenzak.
 De politie klaagt steen en been over een gebrek aan bevoegdheden. Misschien is dat terecht, al lijkt het onvermogen om die 35 ettertjes in Slotervaart aan te pakken eerder een tekortkoming van justitie dan van de politie. Bovendien moeten we ons bedenken dat de politie, doorgaans in eendrachtige samenwerking met de burgemeester, zijn bevoegdheden al tot het uiterste oprekt of zelfs overschrijdt. Bij wijze van voorbeeld verwijs ik naar de 'preventieve' arrestaties tijdens de eurotop en in Slotervaart of, nu we toch bezig zijn, de razzia waarbij onlangs in Zuidoost 111 mensen zonder gegronde verdenking werden gearresteerd.
Blijkbaar is dat nog niet genoeg: na de twee steekincidenten in Slotervaart roept de oppositie in de raad om een verscherpt fouilleerbeleid. Maar wanneer in Oud-Zuid en Buitenveldert vier topcriminelen worden neergeknald - met alle gevaren voor omstanders van dien - hoor je er niemand over. Bij fouilleeracties denken we nu eenmaal steevast aan Hoptille of het Allebéplein, nooit aan de Beethovenstraat. Hoe pijnlijk ook, het is moeilijk te ontkennen: in Amsterdam wordt niet preventief, maar selectief gefouilleerd.
http://www.amsterdamcentraal.nl/archief/2007/10/24/ons-selectief-fouilleerbeleid
met 62 reacties
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(Deportation of 62 refugees from Lesvos obstructed, 23 juli 2009)
Repression has no place on our boat .....
In the last few years the island of Lesvos has represented one of the main
entrance gate for thousands of refugees and migrants seeking to reach
Europe. Packed in tiny plastic boats they try to cross the sea border
between Turkey and Greece but some of them can't make it. More than 1.100
migrants and refugees have lost their lives that way in Aegean sea the
last 20 years.
The Hellenic Coast Guard, following the european and greek policies of
"prevention of entrance" violates the rights of the refugees and put their
lives in danger. At the same time, though, its activities are supported by
Frontex, whose first boat started operating on the island in July 2008.
Recently Frontex's officials started interviewing / investigating refugees
and migrants in Pagani (Lesvos).
Pagani (5 kilometres outside Mitilini, the capital of the island) is where
the detention centre is located, to which refugees and migrants are sent,
as soon as they set foot on Lesvos. And where they are detained for weeks
and months. It is a prison in which fundamental human rights are not
respected. Besides, the building is not suitable to host human beings,
since it lacks the basic infrastructure for that purpose. Moreover, the
refugees are not given any possibility to communicate, are not informed
about their rights and are not allowed access to fresh air.
Once registered in the Eurodac system, refugees are set free with an
administrative deportation order requiring them to leave the country
within a month. Some of them who lodge an asylum application end up in a
bureaucratic chaos, go through state violence (there were two victims at
the Athens Aliens Department in the last few months) and in the end only a
0,60% of the applications is accepted.
Those who decide to stay in Greece and find a job have to endure several
constraints, hard working times, inhuman conditions and all this in
exchange of an humiliating pay. Given their precarious situation they are
not given the right of association in order to acquire better working
conditions. An example of this is the recent assassination attempt (with
vitriol) of a foreign woman - a trade representative - in Athens.
Those who try to set forth their journey, in order to reach (usually via
Italy) other European countries, flock to the western ports, like Patra's,
where the Coast Guard's repressive activities are an everyday phenomenon.
And very often refugees are found dead inside the trucks with which they
try to leave the country. And those who manage to continue their journey,
if caught, are sent back to Greece in application of the Regulation Dublin
II.
From the Schengen Agreement to the Dublin Regulation, from the European
Pact on Immigration and Asylum to the so called "Directive of Shame",
from Frontex to the IOM, from the detention centres to the practices of
expulsion and deterrence, from the borders to the capitals, Europe is
clearly dealing with the phenomenon of immigration with measures of
repression and border control.
Here in Lesvos the building of the "Fortress Europe" is clearly visible.
That's why we would like to invite you to join us in August (25-31), to
share with us the experience of what is going on at the borders, to
discuss the problems, to coordinate our actions, to fight:
AGAINST NEW-IMPERIALISM POLICIES AND WHATEVER CREATE REFUGEES
AGAINST BORDER REGIME AND THE PRACTICES OF CONTROL AND REPRESSION
AGAINST CRIMINALIZATION OF MIGRATION
AGAINST DETENTION CENTRES AND VIOLATION OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES
AGAINST EXPLOITATION OF MIGRANTS'LABOUR
NO BORDERS
NO ONE IS ILLEGAL
NO IMMIGRANTS' DETENTION
EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL
Coordination of No Border Lesvos 2009
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The Guardian (Nigera), 10 december 2007
By Justin Akpovi-Esade
 Nkem owoh speaks on fiasco with holland police
BARELY two months after the local media lambasted comedian Bright Okpocha a.k.a Basket Mouth for trying to fan the embers of hate between Nigeria and Austria with his alleged accusation of the former as racists in their land, Nollywood actor Nkem Owoh popularly called Osoufia, may have reaped the 'gains' of that seemingly careless joke.
Osoufia at a press briefing in Lagos last week alleged he was a victim of racist attack in faraway Holland where he went for a show with fellow comic Maleke. A celebrity magazine had reported that the comedy actor was deported back to the country in chains after The Netherlands police invaded the Grand Cafe venue of the show at about midnight, midway into the sold out event. "I am here to clarify some reports in the newspapers that have made the rounds recently. Some of the reports either got it all wrong or had some of the facts, but the reason for this gathering is to let the world know what I went through in Holland. Some said I was arrested, that is not correct," the actor began.
He told of how the owner of Grand Cafe, a spot he described as the hangout "of Nigerians, Africans and lovers of Africa in Amsterdam," got in touch with him to come over to do a show which eventually was eventually slated for June 15. All was well, the venue filled to capacity and the show was well on the way "when at about midnight, I was on stage when the police invaded the place. They came in large numbers, over 150 of them. They ordered the show stopped and asked all of us to move to a corner of the hall. I came down from the stage and told the officer that I was the main performer and if there was a problem we could talk about; I was shoved violently to the corner and ordered to leave the hall to the other side of the street. Before then, the officers had distributed leaflets which claimed that Grand Cafe was being used for criminal activities and they were there to fish out the criminals." The actor who addressed the press in company of his legal adviser said he had no objection with police trying to do their duties such as finding a criminal, but "I believe they should go about it in a dignified manner without trampling on the rights of others. My papers were in perfect order, same for Maleke who I contracted for the show. But the way and manner The Netherlands police went about the whole charade that day smacked of racism. The were so unfriendly, they were pushing and shoving people, including a diplomat from Zambia who came for the show. It was pure racism in action."
At first, the comedian thought his controversial song entitled I Go Chop Your Dollar, which many believed glorified Advance Fee Fraud otherwise called 419, was responsible for his ordeal. The song has gained world popularity especially in the United States and Europe where it is often use as signature tunes for talk shows on 419 as allegedly being perpetrated by Nigerians. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the nation's anti graft agency, was reportedly not comfortable with the actor's debut album. Rumours had it that the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC placed a Not To Be Broadcast seal on it. So, naturally, Owoh felt it was the same song that "has made the The Netherlands police feel that the King of 419 in Africa is in Amsterdam. But it was not to be, they (police) just needed an excuse to invade the Grand Cafe."
From across the street, the actor watched as Nigerians and others of African descent, about 500, were being frisked and sniffed at by giant police dogs, and were later loaded in trucks and driven away to various detention centres. "What got me mad was the way they manhandled Maleke. I felt bad and helpless as I watched from across the street the way they wrestled Maleke to the floor, cuffed his hands and took him a away like a common criminal simply because he sought for an explanation for the police action."
Osoufia became convinced it was a racist attack when "they started letting go the whites among the crowd. A woman who is from The Netherlands challenged them but she was just ignored and asked to just go. She was really mad from the way she was speaking."
The task of looking for Maleke fell on Osoufia who was further impeded by his lack of knowledge of the language and terrain. "It was a big ordeal to find Maleke as every police precinct we went to, there was no record of his arrest. I could not speak the language and I just must find Maleke because I took him to Amsterdam. It was later in the afternoon that he managed to get a telephone and called my number. He described his location and told us he was simply taken on a ride and abandoned in the middle of nowhere. You see what I mean that the raid was just planned to harass Nigerians and Africans leaving in Amsterdam?"
He immediately lodged a complaint with the Nigerian Consulate General at the Hague, who according to him was not too happy with the development and promised to take it up officially with The Netherlands government. Nkem Owoh had instituted a legal action against the Amsterdam police for what he described as a "gross infringement on his rights". Legal moves are on to free the over 300 people still being held in various detention centres in the city, he said. "The Nigerian community felt really insulted by the affront. They told me that the police there are fond of harassing Nigerians after the claim that former president Olusegun Obasanjo said during one of his visits that the authorities should send Nigerians home as he had jobs for them. I don't know if actually Chief Obasanjo made that statement, I would not want to believe that he did said that anyway. It was after television stations started condemning the action of the police that they started releasing some of the detained people. We also staged peaceful demonstrations on the streets of Amsterdam, which the television stations widely reported, the newspapers too. But there are still about 300 of them in detention as I speak with you who the police said they would deport, for which reason I do not know. It is a pathetic situation.
" The Nollywood actor, after his experience, has started a pet project aimed at laundering the image of Nigerians especially in the Diaspora. "The fact that I played I Go Chop Your Dollars does not mean that I support fraud in any way. That song was the sound track of a movie I did. Entitled, The Masters where I outlined the evils of fraud, it was so revealing that I started getting threat letters from fraudsters who claimed I revealed their trade secrets. I am caught in the middle, people are hounding me that I glorified 419 and the fraudsters on their part are angry with me! We are starting a project both here and in Amsterdam that would bring to the fore Nigerians doing great things in various fields of human endeavours worldwide, so that the world would see that Nigerians are good people who are doing great in other fields aside the one the world believes that we are only good at."
President Musa Yar' Adua would soon get the proposal from the actor on how to use Nollywood to launder the image of the country. "We are sending the proposal to the president and other relevant agencies. It is now time to tell the world that Nigerians are not all fraudsters, yes, there are some bad people just like you would find in every society, but the idea of saying that we are all bad, should stop. That is my present mission," he submitted.
www.ngrguardiannews.com |
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