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Refugee Protest in Vienna continued: Again protest at Votiv church (vom 22.09.2013),
URL: http://no-racism.net/article/4529/, besucht am 22.12.2024

[22. Sep 2013]

Refugee Protest in Vienna continued: Again protest at Votiv church

On Sunday, 22nd of September 2013, the Votiv church was occupied again by refugees and suppporters of the protest movement in Vienna. The church asked the police for eviction - so the activists left the church. Supporters welcomed them outside. New protests announced. Support the struggle for the rights of refugees!

10 months ago refugees from the first reception centre in Traiskirchen, Lower Austria, started a protest to demand their rights. They walked from Traiskirchen to Vienna and set up a Protest Camp in the city centre - in front of the Votiv Church. The church was squatted first time on 18th of Dezember 2012 by refugees. They stayed their until 3rd of March 2013, when they moved to the Serviten Monastery.

Until now not even one of their demands was fullfilled. Some of the activists get deported to Hungary and to Pakistan, where they face no security.

On 20th of September 2013 more then 700 people joined a ralley for refugee rights in Vienna. Two days later, on 22nd of September, the protesting refugees came back to the Votiv church to continue their struggle. Their main demands are:

1. Legal residence status. We cannot go back to our countries of origin, because war, terror, persecution and famine forced us to flee.

2. If Austria is not able to grant us asylum, at least erase our finger prints from your database, so that we can take refuge in other countries.

Information around 1 pm

On Sunday 22nd of September 2013, about 20 refugees and 10 supporters occupied the Votiv Church again.

After the Sunday mass, the refugees and their supporters stayed in the church. The responsible persons of the church closed the doors and called the police, which came around 11:30 am without doing any intervention first. But no supportes can enter the church anymore and their are rumors that the church asked the police to evict the protesters.

Some supporters waiting outside and call for more people to show their solidarity with the refugee struggles.

Update 2 pm - "You cannot silence us!"

Police entered the church and bring the activists out. They leave one by one, the police is checking their identities. Outside the church supporters are waiting and shouting slogans.

Update 3 pm - Protest will be continued

All people left the church. The police checked their identities, but no arrests. During a press conference outside the church, the refugees demanded again their rights. They like a solution, a right to stay - and announced further protests. They want to mobilise all refugees in Austria and march to Brussels to demnad their rights in front of the EU authorities.

For more updates see Twitter :: #Votivkirche :: #Refugeeprotest
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