DAY 1 OF THE PROTEST AGAINST THE INSTALLATION OF A CCTV CAMERA IN THE "LAGER" IN SCHWÄBISCH GMÜND.
On Friday the 28th of February 2014 refugees in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Ostalbkreis (BDW) discovered a secret CCTV camera on the second floor close to the entrance of the "lager" where more that 300 refugees are been housed, isolated and persecuted daily by the administration of the building under the leadership of Mrs. Rettinmahier.
We called for an emergency meeting of the refugees living in the "lager" as regards the camera. In the meeting it was agreed that a 9 man delegate be sent to meet with the administration to demand that the camera be removed as it is an infringement on the right to private lives and movements of refugees living in the "lager". Amongst them only one person was to speak for them while the rest serve as witness.
On Monday the 3rd of March 2014 at about 11:00 am the delegates went to the office of the "lager" boss and told her the reason that we were sent to her and demanded that the spy camera be removed. The "lager" boss then called her superior in Aalen on the phone to tell him our demand and he agreed that the camera be removed. She then told the house master, Mr. Joseph who was in her office at the time of the meeting to go and remove the camera, this she said in german and schwäbian languages to the house master but the house master surprisingly said no to our demand, that he will not remove the camera. We then suspected a foul play between both of them and decided to press on harder, but the "lager" boss instead asked us to leave her office or she will call the police to throw us out and when we refused she went outside and called the police. Moments later six police men came into the office and we tried to explain our reason for coming to the "lager" boss, we even tried to play back a recorded voice conversation of the meeting to them but instead they choose to delete the voice recording, seized a mobile phone belonging to a member of the delegate, wrote down our names for further persecution and forcefully threw us out of the administrative building. Later before they left they returned the mobile phone to the owner after going through it and deleting some of the contents of the mobile phone.
We reported the incidents to the other refugees and they were disappointed in the manner which the "lager" boss escalated the issue that would have been resolved with dialogue by inviting the police to throw us out. As a result of the escalation and provocation the refugees concerned decided to stage a peaceful protest against the unlawful installation of the CCTV camera and the use of the police to intimidate and suppress the voice of the refugees who's rights have been violated. The "lager" boss then invited the police a second time and this time more than thirty police officers came with their dogs. They brutally and unlawfully arrested four refugees and took them to the station. The other refugees then staged a peaceful protest round the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd and in front of the police station in the city demanding the immediate release of the refugees that were arrested. After hours of protest the police was forced to release the arrested refugees and we protested peacefully back to the "lager" to continue our demand for the removal of the CCTV camera.
While the protest was going on in the "lager" the officials of Landratsamt invited the police a third time and this time they came in even lager numbers with dogs and riot police. The refugees tried to make the police understand that the installation of the CCTVCCTV camera is a violation of the rights of refugees to private lives and freedom of movement in and around the "lager", but instead the police and the Landratsamt officials tried to escalate, provoke and repress the protest which was very peaceful, but with our experience in refugees resistance the refugees in Schwäbisch Gmünd were able to keep both the police and Landratsamt officials violence under control and that took the protest into the second day.
DAY 2
On Tuesday the 4th of March 2014 the "lager" administration from Aalen and Schwäbisch Gmünd called for a meeting with the "lager" floor speakers.
While the meeting was going on the other refugees were protesting outside in front of the "lager" and then suddenly one of the house masters threatened our lives with a knife he concealed under his shirt. This happened while the police were still there in the "lager" and the matter was reported to them but they did nothing to call the house master to order.
After the meeting with the floor speakers the administration in the company of some police officers came to us and told us that a decision has been reached with the floor speakers, that the CCTV camera will be move to the middle of the building. We told them that the floor speakers have not consulted any refugee on the issue and so the decision was their own personal opinions and does not represent the opinion of the vast majority of refugees who want to see that the camera is removed completely and that the decision reached is not acceptable to us because it is still in violation of our right to privacy. We then decided to use the banner we made for the protest to cover the CCTV camera since they are unyielding to our demand.
(We also told the "lager" administration that if they forcefully remove the banner then we will forcefully remove the CCTV camera too, and so the protest was relaxed awaiting the reaction of the administration as regards the banner and that led to the third day.)
DAY 3
On Wednesday 5th of March 2014 the "lager" boss in the company of some police officers came to meet some of us in our rooms and told us that her superior in Aalen has reached a final decision on the issue of the CCTV camera, that his decision is that the camera must remain where it is and that we should remove our banner covering the camera with immediate effect, secondly that one of the refugees who took part in the protest named Obinna Nnuli must relocate to the final"lager" in Böbingen as he is no longer under the care of Landratsamt. We then told her that we will consult with the other refugees in other to reach a dignifying decision regarding the situation and we will get back to her as soon as possible.
Later in the day we held a meeting and we reach the following decisions;
1. That as long as the CCTV camera remains there our banner will remain there as well and we have been provoked to the point of we removing the camera ourselves if the landratsamt officials remove our banner.
A
2. We no longer feel safe with a knife wielding house master (MR BEN) in the "lager" and so we are asking the administration of the "lager" to remove the house master from his duties or we will take further necessary lawful action to see that he is removed from his duty post.
3. The toilets and bathrooms meant for refugees convenient which have been under lock and converted to the said camera room must be opened for use to refugees residing on the second floor or the administration will face further necessary lawful actions from the refugees.
We have decided to bring the events of the past few days to the public to sensitive the public on the reasons for our protest as the administration and the police have connived and gone to the press to brand us as public nuisances in an effort to criminalise our names and our activities.
We want to use this medium to let the public know that we are law abiding and the oppressed people and that there is no crime in being a refugee as we all are victims of circumstances that forced us to flee our various home countries for safety.
We are asking for ideas to reach our goal and pls we ask for publication of this test. As other update will be send to the list as well.
Enoruwa Charles
charlesbobby94@yahoo.com