A publication of the press release issued on the 12.09.13 by the group “Lampedusa in Hamburg” regarding the recent developements. A more detailed statement will follow next week.
Thank you to “Wut auf der Straße – Protest in Bildern”!
First Wednesday-Demonstration – decisive developments expected
Hamburg, 12.09.2013. Yesterday the first demonstration according to the motto “Lampedusa in Hamburg – We’re staying here!”, planned to take place weekly from now on, marched through Hamburg’s city center. The demonstration with over 150 participants headed for the town hall, distributing flyers along the way and loudly demanding a solution for the group “Lampedusa in Hamburg”. The political pressure on the streets of Hamburg is maintained, also in respect of an upcoming decision by the ministry of interior regarding the representative applications for residence on humanitarian grounds made on Tuesday by the group “Lampedusa in Hamburg”.
After over four months of struggle and conscious of the strong solidarity of the people of Hamburg the group had decided to make this step, in order to end the life-threatening ignorance by the senate of Hamburg. The applications are exemplary for the group “Lampedusa in Hamburg”. A quote from Asuquo Udo, one of the speakers of the group:
“We are very grateful for the understanding of the people of Hamburg and the great support we experience every day. In our desperate situation, this gives us the power to get up again and again and to fight for our rights.
We cannot wait any longer, the situation is threatening our health and our lives. The situation makes us sick and many need medical attention. The cold weather makes it even worse. We suffer from the uncertainty and the forced passivity, this psychologically stresses us very badly. Together with our lawyers we have decided to make representative applications for a residence on humanitarian grounds. Now the senate cannot escape its responsibiliy any longer.
But we make it very clear: The applications are exemplary for the whole group, we won’t be played off against each other! The ignorance and political games by the responsible officials are threatening our lifes, this has to end! We were forced to leave two countries, the european policies have destroyed our lifes twice. We cannot go back, we’re staying here!”