Video, Audio, Photo: Anti-Deportation demo on Saturday welcomes back Olunkunle Eluhanle from Nigeria

dublin | racism & migration related issues | news report Monday April 04, 2005 12:59 by kevin

Footage from Saturday's demo.

Around 300 people gathered in O'Connell Street on Saturday to welcome home Olunkunle Eluhanle, the Nigerian student whose deportation order had been reversed by the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell. The crowd listened to Kunle speak briefly, along with his friend Neil Burke from Palmerston College who had been heavily involved in the campaign to have his friend returned. After listening to speeches from other union, political, and refugee support groups, the crowd made its way down to the National Immigration Bureau on Burgh Quay.

Kunle was asked how he felt about being back. "I'm really happy. I was really shocked by the whole thing. Thanks to all my mates for protesting to bring me back. I guess the only thing I can say is that we should stand for each other. We should be there for each other, supporting each other, so that we can all come home. Thanks to everyone who protested to get me home; journalists, priests, and all my friends too. And Mr. McDowell who brought me home as well."

Groups were represented from around the country, including Athlone and Castleblaney, where local residents have begun campaigns to have similar deportation orders to Kunle's reversed. Neil Burke addressed the crowd: "I think Kunle's case has shown that it can be done and it gives everyone heart to keep going and keep trying. Its not a fight in vain. You can do it, and we've shown that you can do it. Everyone from Palmerston is pointing out all the other cases and we'll give any support or help that we can, and give anything we've learned along the way to help your case. I just want to say: keep going, you will get there in the end. He [Michael McDowell] isnt a hard man, he will listen to you eventually."

Right-Click (or Control-Click for Mac) here to save the film of the protest to your computer. This short (8:34) DivX film shows the scrum around Kunle as he is welcomed to the rally, and captures his and Neil's speeches on the platform. The crowd then moves down to the Immigration Offices. The film is an 11.5 MB download. DivX is a video compression tool. If you wish to view this video, you will need a DivX player. This is free, you can get it here for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, here for the Mac, or here for Linux.

Right-Click (or Control-Click for Mac) here to save a short MP3 file to your computer. The MP3 audio segment is a short interview (5:56) with Frank Young, who is involved in the campaign to bring refugees back to Athlone. He talks about the background to the refugees being deported, what the current situation is, and the level of support the campaign has among the people of Athlone. MP3 audio will play with most standard media players.

Demo photos by Red Jade
More demo photos by ex-pioneer
Audio & Images by Noise Hacker, including speeches from Joe Higgins, Gregor Kerr, William Binchy and Mick O'Reilly.