Frontex, the EU migrant hunting agency

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Frontex Headquarters, Warsaw, Poland

On June 5-6, activists from many different countries came to Warsaw to protest against the deadly policies of Frontex, the EU agency which conducts migrant hunting operations, trains border guards and special units to hunt down people crossing so-called "national borders" and which helps to coordinate and implement EU immigration policy. Frontex has its headquarters in Warsaw.

On June 5, the second of two transnational conferences took place.

The conference was opened by Laure Akai with presentations by Amadou Mbow, a human rights activist from Mauretania, Devi Sachetti from Italy, who deals with issues of migrant rights, including the issue of precarity and migrant labour, Vincent de Jong from Holland, who is active in resistance against detention and deportation in Holland, Georgios Maniatis from Greece and Hagen Kopp from Germany.

The speakers presented information about the Frontex operations near the coast of Africa and their consequences, the operations in Libya and the Mediterranaen and Aegean Seas, as well as an overview of Frontex operations, the ideology behind this and our arguments against this regime. It was pointed out during the presentations and later discussions how destructive these policies are and how the migrants can be victimized twice - for example, by the practices of some businesses which undermine their traditional livelihoods at home and then by the policies of the countries these businesses tend to come from, which seek to exclude people.

On June 6, a demonstration was held in front of Frontex headquarters. People from many countries were present, people from various social movements, some refugees living in Poland as well. The protestors demand that Frontex be shut down and that freedom of movement should be given to all, that there be an end to discrimination of all sorts against immigrants.

The sleazy head of Frontex, Ilkka Laitinen, came out to try to assure the press that he's a nice, decent guy who's just doing his job, which most people agree with. He invited some people in to speak with him but, just like any two-faced, teflon politician, he tried to deflect all criticism by using Eichmann's defense and pretended to not know anything about migrants suffering because of Frontex's work. He asked people to please inform people should they hear of any problems. As if the fact that people came thousands of miles to protest was no indication that something was going wrong.

The protestors made some speeches and had many slogans against borders in general, against deportation, against Frontex, etc. Afterwards, a demonstration was held.

People went to the Presidential Palace to protest Poland's immigration policies, in particular it's agreement with the Vietnamese government to deport 5000 Vietnamese people. The Polish border police, along with Vietnamese security forces, carried out a number of raids recently in which Vietnamese people were beaten, detained and deported. This government agreement has driven many of Poland's Vietnamese (70,000 people in Warsaw) underground.

Afterwards activists met and agreed to continue working on this issue, to make the issue more known and to provide a deeper analysis of the processes, including appeals to working class people not to be fooled by the divisive ideology of the statists and capitalists which pits working people against each other.

The anti-Frontex activities was ended by a concert on June 7th.

Shut Down Frontex: Press Conference audio links

1. Bernd Kaspareck speaks at a press conference held in Warsaw, June 6th 2008, on why it is important to protest against Frontex, the EU 'border security' (migrant-hunting) agency.

Bernd is from a well-known organisation in Germany called The Caravan based in Munich, Germany, which helps migrants, resists deportations, conducts research on EU migration policies, etc.

http://radio.indymedia.org/en/node/16895

2. Tobias Pflüger is a Member of the European Parliament. In this clip he speaks about Frontex, the EU migrant hunting agency, calling for it to be abolished. Tobias was among a delegation of human rights activists who met with the chief of Frontex agency in Warsaw during a demonstration outside he EU 'border security' agency's Warsaw headquarters, on Saturday June 6th 2008.

http://radio.indymedia.org/en/node/16894

3. Interview with Mauritanian Human Rights activist Amadou Mbow, AMDH - Human Rights Organisation from Nouakchott/Mauritania.

Amadou came to Warsaw especially for a conference on and demonstrations against EU agency, Frontex, who have their headquarters in Warsaw.
http://radio.indymedia.org/en/node/16893

Shut Down Frontex: Audio links to press conference Q&A session

Mauritanian Human Rights activist Amadou Mbow, AMDH - Human Rights Organisation from Nouakchott/Mauritania, on EU migration policies, Mauritanian civil resistance, State repression, etc. Amadou came to Warsaw for a conference on and demonstrations against EU agency, Frontex.

The events in Warsaw this weekend are part of year long activities organised by the 'No Border' campaign.

www.radio.indymedia.org/en/node/16898

Contact info.
www.refugee-rights.org/NGODirectory/AMDH-Mauritania.htm

Tobias Pflueger on EU Parliament & Frontex

www.radio.indymedia.org/en/node/16896

Tobias Pflueger, EU parliamentarian, on the Lisbon Treaty & Frontex

www.radio.indymedia.org/en/node/16897

Bernd Kaspareck on the EU's Frontex agency operations against migrants, African States' policy shifts and EU border security privatisation.

http://radio.indymedia.org/en/node/16899

German website: www.antira.info/
Polish website: www.cia.bzzz.net
www.frontex.info.pl
Dutch website: www.allincluded.nl
Italian website: www.coordinamentomigranti.splinder.com/

On the move to the presidential palace