“I won’t pay a cent for my freedom of movement“
Miloud L. Cherif in refugee camp of Zella-Mehlis
In 2012, the racist police control and brutality in Germany continues just as the apartheid pass law, otherwise known as the Residenzpflicht continue to be the magnet to trap refugees in Germany into the criminal pot. Everywhere in this country, those who do not have the “right” skin colour or look “foreign” are singled out from the crowd; at bus stops, train stations, inside the trains, on the streets etc. and asked to show their Passports by the police. We are publicly discriminated against, humiliated and treated to a dish of open racism by the police on a daily basis because they believe the law permits them to do it and they have the support of the public for it.
When asked why we are being singled out and controlled, the police reply is usually “it is our job to control you”, “we have the right to check you”, and “we are looking for criminals who break the law”. And here, there is a little caveat. If you happen to be a refugee and you have no permission to be where you are controlled, they will tell you “you are being controlled because you have no permission to be out of you “Landkreis”. These are the standard answers we get from them if they choose to answer at all. Remember, posing any question in the first place is an open invitation for them to brutalise you because, “you dare not question or tell them how to do their lovely job”.
But here is the point if you are interested in it-and this is specifically to the police and the ignorant crowd that continue to support racist police control and brutality. The police always say they have the right to control us like everyone else. And we have experienced situations where “nice, good citizens and patriotic Germans” are readily and zealously jumping head over heels to support the racist police controls because in their eyes; there is nothing wrong with police controls. But the question is not whether they have the right to control us. The question is: why is it that the police will always ask the only Black person or “non white, foreign-looking” person for his or her passport when the white people around there are not controlled? This is the reason why it is a racist control. If the police want to prove us wrong or have us believe otherwise, they have to show us something different and treat us equally like they treat others. And that means not selecting us out of every crowd for control because we don’t look “German”.
It is time for the police to stop “hiding behind the law and their acclaimed right to control” and stop the racist police control. We are sick and tired of this institutional and society racism and we call on all well-meaning individuals and groups to join us in solidarity to purge this blatant racism.
As you shall see in the two brief statements below from two of our activists, we are determined to continue the fight. We will continue to enjoy our natural right to freedom of movement and we remain unbowed-neither to intimidation nor injustice.
Statement by Miloud L. Cherif (The VOICE Refugee Forum, Zella-Mehlis):
Why do you control only me?!!
Statement by Sunny Omwenyeke
Back to Germany. My End of Year Present from the German Police
We Call to Abolish the Residenzpflicht!
Abolish the Racist Police Control in Germany Now!!
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