#M19 Ellie Kisyombe, End Direct Provision

"Statement issued by Keerfa (ΚΕΕΡΦΑ) - Movement Against Racism and Fascist Threat / Greece:

Call for an international day of action against racism and fascism, March 19, 2016 - Refugees and migrants are welcome, fascists out!

An unprecedented wave of solidarity for refugees has risen across Europe and proclaims loud and clear: "refugees-welcome- open the borders." The outcry for refugees and migrants lives lost in the Mediterranean has turned into a mass anti-racist movement.It is a movement movement of solidarity for refugees and migrants fleeing from death in their countries.

They are persecuted by the bombs of the West and Russia, the bullets of dictators and ISIS and the economic disasters of the IMF. This movement has the potential to isolate the fascists. The far right are trying to pour again the racist poison of Islamophobia, building on the policies of governments with fences, concentration camps and the erosion of the right to asylum.

The EU Summits worse the politics of racist Fortress Europe, of closed borders. There is an escalation of racist attacks with militarization of the border guard by FRONTEX- Europol and the development of “hotspot” new concentration camps. The policy of sorting and mass expulsions of refugees / immigrants is an openly bankrupt policy.

The EU operation to hold refugees in mass guarded camps in Turkey is a scandal. Refugees have legal right under international law to claim asylum. It gives support to Erdogan at a time that he has declared war on the Kurds in Turkey.
At the same time the EU is toughening its stance against migrants. EU is planning mass expulsions by special flights of thousands who have no papers or their requests for asylum and residence have been rejected.

The lies of governments and their racist scaremongering pave the way for the rise of extreme right in Europe.

We call on people to unite so as to close the road to fascist and racist parties.
We demand to open the borders to save refugees from the hazards of entry by stormy seas, mines, rivers and from the hands of the traffickers. Refugees have legal right to claim asylum.
Let the fences fall from Evros to Calais, dismantle FRONTEX.

We call for coordinated action in order to stop the new measures of further fortification of racist EU fortress and to put an end to the fascist threat.
We call for an International day of mobilization on March 19, 2016 with the slogan "refugees welcome, fascists out”Call for an international day of action against racism and fascism, March 19, 2016 - Refugees and migrants are welcome, fascists out!"

Video © Paula Geraghty