Demo, revolt, fire and escape at Brussels detention centre today

arnaud borderer | 20.02.2011 

Activists held a solidarity action outside the Steenockerzeel 123bis detention centre in Brussels this afternoon. Inside, prisoners took matters into their own hands and started a revolt which led to one escape and a wing destroyed by fire. Currently the area is shut down by police.

The group "Voices Without Borders" organised a solidarity action this afternoon at the 127 bis detention centre in Steenockerzeel, Brussels this afternoon starting at 16.30. The action was a show of solidarity with prisoners in the immigration prison who have been on hunger strike for more than ten days after an 18 year old Egyption migrant was tied up and beaten by guards.

The demonstrators arrived at the centre with music, shouts and banners, including one showing a telephone number which prisoners could call to relay testimonies and messages. The lively demo was met with lots of interaction from the people inside shouting and banging on windows, clearly in a resistant mood. People inside and out shouted messages of solidarity and defiance to each other whilst a line of riot cops looked on. Whilst demonstrators banged on the outer line of five meter steel fences prisoners inside began to throw objects out of the windows.

After some time a fire broke out in one cell and people were led out of the wing into the courtyard near the fences close to the demonstration while the fire began to rage. Guards began pushing prisoners on the fire escape.

One prisoner managed to climb the fences out of the centre to freedom, where he then disappeared into mid air. Others occupied the rooftop.

As more police arrived to "pacify" the revolt, activists showed solidarity, staying close to the centre in support.

The roads were blocked with police surrounding the centre and cordoning off traffic in the nearby village of Steenockerzeel. The train station has also been closed down. As of late evening, TV crews from the Belgian networks were still in the area. Recent reports say that one wing has been destroyed, with prisoners moved to other dention centres.

Solidarité avec les revoltés. In solidarity with the fighting spirit of the immigration prisoners of Steenockerzeel, locked up for no crime in the "Capital of Europe". No borders, No nations.

See the video of today's events here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crAz0W1O5X4

NOTE -- images from capitalist media, too late to blur faces.

brussels indymedia:

Brussels - Molotov cocktails against buildings of Federal Judiciary Police

Brussels - Molotov cocktails against buildings of Federal Judiciary Police

burnt out vehicles at Incourt

suie e cendres

BRUSSELS - Molotov cocktails were thrown against the buildings of the Judiciary Federal Police in Brussels. This was said by the television news of VTM and confirmed by the federal police.The incendiary projectiles were thrown from the Kortenberglaan in Bruxelles against one of the sides of the buildings where the central directions of Federal Police concerning economic and financial fraud (DJF) and of the technical and scientific police (DJT) are. On the wall, traces of the flames of eight meters can be seen. On the inside of the buildings, the damage is limited. The authors are said to have broken the windows. Investigation is lead by the police of the zone Brussels-Ixelles3.11.2010

On Saturday, in Incourt on the other hand, INCOURT - Fire was put to a police car in the Freedom Street. The car was parked in front of the communal house and the CPAS ("social welfare" institution). The fire spread to a van of the communal services parked next to the police car, before damaging also the building of the CPAS. The roof was touched by the fire and all windows exploded.

Brussels - 40 masked people attack police with molotovs

suie e cendres

BRUSSELS - Tension is rising in the neighbourhood of Anderlecht. Police fear that one small spark would be enough to provoke again riots. Last weekend, on Saturday evening, around 40 youngsters, all masked, attacked a police patrol coming back from an intervention with molotov cocktails. Two police cars were destroyed. Although the Federal Police sent in reinforcements, nobody was arrested. Next day it was calmer, but still several police patrols were attacked with stones by small groups of youngsters.

This news only came out when a journalist contacted the union of the police, whining that "the violence against the police has become a banality.

Solidarity with arrested in Belgium, attack on police station

ongoing struggle against borders and all kinds of prisons. solidarity

Κατεβάστε το συνημμένο αρχείο: brussels_a4.pdf (application/pdf)

As a part of an ongoing struggle against prisons and the construction of a new deportation prison specifically, anarchists called for an offensive demonstration against borders and all types of prisons on the 1st of October. This was blocked by massive police presence and arrests. 4 people are at this moment still in jail, awaiting trial. They are accused of having participated in a group-attack against a police station. Here the translation of a recent poster. In PDF, 4 pages, with texts and an overview of agitation in Belgium over the last month., in an attempt to show the social tension manifesting itself on different spheres.

Solidarity with the accused of the attack on a police station in Brussels

On Friday the 1st of October, near the South station, a lively demonstration against deportation camps, prisons, borders and the State was to take place. This same State was not pleased with the initiative, and besieged the neighbourhood. The police controlled, searched and arrested a big number of people around the station; in Anderlecht, a popular neighbourhood nearby, police with machine guns patrolled on strategic places and several anti-riot squads were to protect the 2 prisons of Brussels, in Forest and Saint-Gilles. In half of Brussels territory a prohibition to gather more than 5 people was announced, enforced by civil and riot police. A few hours after the demonstration should have taken place, dozens of people attacked the police station of the Marolles, a few blocks away from the South station. The police station and numerous police cars were destroyed, two policemen were injured. Four people were arrested in the surroundings some time after and are now accused of this attack. They are locked up in the prison of Forest, awaiting trial.

We fully support the attack they are accused of and see it as a logical act in which we recognize ourselves. Not only because we will always be against the police, but because this attack is part of a tension that is present in Brussels since a long time, where people direct their anger more and more against what tries to break them. Against what exploits, controls or imprisons them. A tension that is also tangible, not in the least in the prisons and deportation all over Belgium. The struggle of the last years against deportation camps and prisons and the demonstration of the 1st of October is, in this way, also part of this tension. And we will never forget this in our solidarity with those who are taken away from us by the State. On the 1st of October, many people were ready to take the streets for what they believe in, or in the least to fight against what makes their dreams impossible. And they will continue to do so. We will continue to do so.

Because it is our dreams that shape the struggle we are fighting. It is our dreams that drag the imprisoned comrades out of the isolation imposed on them.

For nothing else than a world without prisons or deportation camps. For nothing else than a fight without borders against everything that, here and now, makes it impossible to taste freedom.

For anarchy

Lisbon - Solidarity action with the comrades in Belgium

informa-azione

12/10/2010 - Lisbon cathedral woke up in the 12th of October with paintbombs and spraypainted. "The S.E.F and the church go hand in hand. That both go up in flames!" (S.E.F. is the Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras) "Solidarity with comrades in Belgium. Fire to the detention centres!"

Posted by sysiphus://sysiphus-angrynewsfromaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2010/10/lisbon-solidarity-action-with-comrades.html

Despite Everything (Belgium)

To the rebels over here and over there
It’s not easy to catch reality into words, as feelings and desires always go beyond what is offered by vocabulary. It is however a vital thing to speak, trying to give expression to our thoughts and feeling. Certainly at times when the terror of the state and her troops of order try to silence everything.
For years we’ve been saying that we need space and time to enable us to think and speak freely. This space and time will never be given to us, we can only conquer them ourselves, eradicate them from the reality of thou shall and thou must. That’s why we’ve been speaking and we speak about revolt, about deeds which create space to live, to express our desires for freedom which no longer accept the sickening misery and ugliness of this world.
During the past week, the State chose to fill up all potential space with uniforms, riot vans, undercover police, detention and abuse. The state barely tolerates anarchists that encourage revolt by words and deeds, but during this week it was put all on all to prevent all encounters between the different rebellions which are heating up the social conflictuality in Brussels. And authority expressed itself by its easiest language: terror, that is to say, a systematic and indiscriminate violence.
The manifestation announced for the 1st of October against all closed centres, prisons, borders and against the state was not allowed to take place, no matter what. A prohibition to gather was declared in four of Brussels districts, while an imposing force of order arrested everyone who gathered around the meeting point. At the same time, other squadrons were controlling the neighbourhoods and metro stations with an iron grip. Both the prisons of Saint-Gilles and Forest were hermetically closed of by a squadron of riot police, while in the heart of rebellious Anderlecht the police were patrolling with balaclavas on their face and machine guns in their hands. Hundreds of people were preventively arrested, tens of them were humiliated, abused and beaten at the police stations.
Lets be clear: the state is not afraid of a hand full of anarchists, but fears the potential social infection which revolutionaries try to effect day by day. Since long Brussels seems to be a social powder barrel in which the social tensions are tried to be suppressed by more police and more wounded and dead persons on the side of those who try to confront in one way or another. The social tensions however continue to express themselves in a radical way: ranging from frequently recurring riots in the neighbourhoods to revolts in the closed centres and prisons, from well aimed attacks against the structures of state and capital to a spreading hostility against everything wearing a repressive uniform. The manifestation announced for the 1st of October was probably about to become one of the possibilities for encounter between the different rebelliousness and anti-authoritarian ideas- and this encounter got squashed.
Despite the militarised pacification of those last days, we will continue to focus on this social powder barrel, knowing that each opportunity can set fire to the powder. The proposal for demonstrating was blocked by many obstacles almost impossible to overcome, but other activities will make their way.
Despite the police walls trying to keep us separated, we continue to consider the encounter between different rebelliousness’s as a desirable and necessary possibility. No repressive state blackmail can soften our enthusiasm for this.
Despite the fact that our initiative got snatched from our hands, we are determined, in our hearths and heads, to snatch it back. Despite all, we continue. Nothing is over… the possibilities are still there to be grabbed.
For the moment, four comrades are staying behind the bars of the prison of Forest, charged with complicity to the attack on a police station in Brussels on the night of the 1st of October. Let’s make them feel our affection and solidarity.
Anarchists who won’t leave anything behind
Brussels, October 5th 2010
 

Brussels – Companies targetted, against deportations

Brussels – Companies targetted, against deportations

A communiqué says that Tuesday morning, several façades of companies, implicated in the management of migration, were targetted. It is unclair which companies, or in which way. A few photos show slogans on the façades of Carlson Wagonlit ( manages the stay of people without papers, before they are deported) and Randstad (delivers guards for asylum centres).
28.09.2010
http://bxl.indymedia.org/articles/129

Brussels - Three metro stations damaged

Between 6 and 6.30 AM, masked persons damaged material in the metro stations Hankar, Delta and Pre-metro Parvis de Saint-Gilles. Black paint and pec made the Mobib machines and ticket machines unusable.

27.09.2010
http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/regio/brussel/100927_vandalisme_metro

Bruxelles – Action against the Italian embassy

Today at 19.00 loads of shit where thrown against the Italian Embassy.
With this symbolical act, we wanted to denounce the murder Italian migration policy. Return agreements with Libya, racist laws, state violence against migrants, infernal detention centers make this country one of the most shameful example of the murder European anti migration policy, carried on with thousand of people drown in the Mediterranean sea, with people tortured in Libyan jails, with rapes and savage violence against detained migrants.
We prefer having the hands dirty of shit than of blood….
NO BORDER NO NATION STOP DEPORTATION!
x bxl.indymedia.org, 01.10.10

Spain General strike action in Almeria and Mojacar areas and barcelona madrit!

A general strike is taking place throughout Spain today aginst the so-called "austerity measures" imposed by the government and capital. Since midnight piquets, blockades, actions and demonstrations are taking place all over the Spanish State. The strike is planned to last for 24h until midnight tonight..

29 settembre 2010

sciopero generale in spagna

picchetti, cortei, scontri…

pietre e fuoco!!

UPDATE:  In the east of Almeria Province – the Mojacar area – the morning of the national strike appears to have started without reported incidents. Pickets have not yet been spotted in the area and for all intense and purposes it is business as usual. Schools, banks. Petrol stations and supermarkets contacted were all open.
Meanwhile this morning, unions declared the 24-hour general strike in Almeria City as a resounding success. They claim 90% of businesses were shut, although in the early hours of the morning this was probably true.
At the strike of midnight 100 picketers barricaded the exit gates of the Almeria bus station to stop buses leaving. Ten minutes later 50 riot police dispersed the crowd and with some remaining at the station on guard.
At 6am a picket of about 40 people closed access to Almeria Port, although from 9am it reopened and is now reported as operating with about 30% of the workforce having joined the strike.
Municipal rubbish collection did not take place.
Almeria fire services have attended a dozen incidents of burning rubbish containers and tyres across the city.
Pickets also stopped access to several retail parks and industrial estates although this was before most of the businesses were due to open.
Nationally, the government assures minimum public transport services are in operation. Electricity consumption in Spain this morning dropped by 19% compared to the normal amount, attributed to the strike.
Clashes with police have been reported in Barcelona, Alicante and Vigo.+
Unions say construction and metal industries have seen a 100% participation with the strike.

`

Ⓐ

Euro-demonstration against austerity measures

2010-09-29

BRUSSELS, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) — Around 100,000 people are expected to gather in Brussels on Wednesday for a key part of Europe-wide demonstration against austerity measures.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) called for a European Day of Action on Wednesday to demonstrate against the austerity measures adopted recently by many European countries and to ask for recovery plans promoting quality jobs and growth.
As many countries have been badly hit by the global financial and economic crisis, European authorities have decided to implement drastic budget measures and social reforms, such as Greece’s austerity plan or France’s pension reform.
Between 80,000 and 100,000 members of fifty Trade Unions organizations from 30 countries are expected to take part in the demonstration held on Wednesday in Brussels.
After the demonstration, an ETUC delegation is expected to meet European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, whose country ensures the rotating Presidency of the European Union.
Besides the Euro-demonstration in Brussels, a general strike has been called in Spain for the first time in 8 years. Actions and demonstration movements will also take place on Wednesday in other European countries, namely Portugal, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Serbia, Romania, Poland , Ireland and France.

Mons - Chevrolet burned

Mons - Chevrolet burned

MONS – During the night, a luxury car Chevrolet Captiva was put on fire. The vehicule is completely destroyed.

10.09.2010

Vielsalm - Working engines of mine firebombed

VIELSALM – The director of a mining company is complaining about the fact that his working engines and other company material were already three times firebombed in the last months. He says damage goes above 2 million euros.

11.09.2010
http://www.dhnet.be/dhjournal/archives_det.phtml?id=1083934

Simultaneous riots in the prison and detention centre for immigrants in Merksplas

mardi 14 septembre 2010

Sunday, about 70 prisoners of the prison of Merksplas started a riot. They started by refusing to go back to their cells; going on then with breaking windows and tearing down infrastructure of the prison. When police forces arrived, tens of prisoners barricades themselves inside a wing where they resisted till the arrival of the special intervention unit of the federal police. The rioters caused quite some damage and also tried to put fire by burning a ping pong table. The syndicate of the guards say the prisoners were protesting against the fact that they don’t have water or a toilet in their cells.
Just at the moment that big part of the police force was coming again out of the prison, just on the opposite side of the street, in the detention centre for immigrants, a riot broke out. The Office des Etrangers refused to give any more information about the revolt, but the guards syndicate talk about sans-papiers trying a collective escape. Some sans-papiers had a confrontation with the police, but were finally overwhelmed and put in isolation. Two days before, on Friday, two sans-papiers escaped from the centre (a fact which the media didn’t mention). A part of the prisoners of the detention centre is currently on hungerstrike to protest against the conditions and ask an immediate liberation. They also denounce the fact that direction and guards try to make them shut up.
On Monday, the guards of the centre went on strike, protesting against the ongoing insecurity and revealing that the police had to intervene already 4 times this month (September) to stop revolts. Police and the social service of the centre took now over the control of the centre.

14.09.2010
Compilation of the Flemish press.

Molenbeek - Trap against police with stones and molotovs

MOLENBEEK - Around 23h, police was called on a spot in Molenbeek for a 'theft with violence'. Once arrived, the police patrol bumped into a fence which was put on the road. They sensed something was wrong and then stones, sticks and molotov cocktails started to rain on their car and another police patrol car. Police said they have catched one person, 19 years old, who would have participated in the trap. The person had already been arrested earlier that day for rebellion against the police. He will now face charges for assault, armed gathering and criminal association.

---

BRUSSELS - Compared to last year, more policemen have been attacked during controls. Police speaks about a "total lack of respect for the uniform" with 77 policemen of the central zone of Brussels which have been wounded during confrontations. The other police zones of Brussels didn't communicate any numbers. Police are speaking about people not accepting anymore to get an identity control (they try to run away or attack the cops straigt away) and more rebellions during arrests on the spot of a crime.

6.09.2010

Riot in prison belgium

LEUVEN – When during the night prison guards tried to put a prisoner in the isolation cell, he fought back and hurt two guards. The guards called the police for an intervention and a small riot followed where one cop got hurt. According to the prison director Henk Mortier the incident is to be minimized, but other sources speak about quite a heavy incident which proves again the ongoing unrest in the prison of Leuven.

Resistance against arrest from belgium

Brussels – In Molenbeek, a small riot occured between the police and youngsters. The police had arrested a man who was searched for and has to do one year of prison sentence. Around 50 people fropm the neigbourhood resisted the arrest by pushing the police. A security camera got destroyed and a police van lightly damaged. No one got hurt.

21/08/2010
www.deredactie.be

anarkia meeting from 1 TO 5 SEPT 2010 in brussels

for our meeting in brussels"anarkia"from 1 TO 5 _WE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF YOU RE COMING REALLY TO IT-just to welcome you in the best way possible-if some of you are coming and want to get the parole on our meeting ,as witnesses from their homeland or as anything else,they re really welcome ,just let us know!please contact us to insure your coming,trough the walls of the event or with phone on 0032 495134029 OR 0032 492078278-we hope to meet u there and to build something together for the international anarchist mouvment.

NEWS FROM BELGIUM

Belgium - Around 250 to 300 vehicules burned each year

BRUSSELS - Federal police says every year about 250 to 300 vehicules get burned. In 2007, the number was 253; in 2008, the estimation was 245 but in 2009, the amount increased to 305. This year, already 139 vehicules suffered arson. Police fears this year will therefore be hotter than the others and says that the arsons doesn't only concern cars, but also vans.

Vottem - Escape from detention centre for immigrants

VOTTEM - During the walk, a prisoner of the detention centre for immigrants, climbed several high fences and ran away. He was caught later when hiding a few kilometers further in the house of a relative, under a matrass, and was arrested by the anti-banditism brigade of Herstal.

Liège - Wave of burning cars

LIEGE - Police is speaking about a wave of burning cars, fearing a contamination in the areas. In Saint-Nicolas, five vehicles were put on fire (some luxury cars and a van of a shop). When a day later police claimed to have arrested a suspect, another two cars (a BMW and a Renault Twingo) were put on fire.

Two days later in a nearby area, another four cars were burned on different spots. The last weeks, more cars suffered arson in the region of Liège.

http://suieetcendres.blogspot.com

NO BORDER CAMP in Brussels

from 27th of September till 3th of October included

A NO BORDER CAMP ?

The NO BORDER CAMP IN BRUSSELS follows the tradition of No Border camps,
organised all over the world since the 90s. Neither a normative frame,
nor an organization, the No Border Camp is most of all a meeting, a
convergence of struggles aiming to end the system of borders that dived
us all.

Like in Calais or Lesvos in 2009 it’s about building a temporary and
autonomous space of living, thinking, sharing (experiences, skills,
information, analysis,…) actions concerning the questions of borders,
migration and the right of freedom of movement and to chose the place
where you want to live

OUR BASIC DEMANDS ARE:

- No one is illegal!
- No borders, no nations!
- Equal rights for everybody!
- Freedom of movement and settlement!
- Against capitalist and authoritarian systems that are the origin of
forced exile, wars and misery.


OUR BASIC PRINCIPLES ARE:

* The camp and the actions organized during the No Border are based
on self-organisation.
* The sexist, racists and violent behaviour are not tolerated in
the camp.
* The targets of the actions of the No Border are multiple and
various, they are not only related to the structures of the repression
of migrants: the anti-migratory policies take place in a capitalist and
European structure that is the base of the problem, repression does not
concern only migrants.
* All the partivipants of the camp accept and respect the different
ways of acting.
* All the participants of the camp are solidary against state
repression.


WHY IN BRUSSELS?

Belgium will take presidency of the European council from July 1st until
21st of December 2010. As the capital of Europe Brussels is the symbol
of the development of the European (anti-) migration policy

In reality the European union is, since over 10 years) more and more
closing it’s doors for migrants, constructing a real fortress Europe.
Europe tightens the repression (forcing people into clandestine
existence, raids , locking people up and expulsing "people without
papers") that is already enforced by Belgium and the different member
states.

So Europe is organising, with the help of Frontex (European agency
organising the operational cooperation at the exterior borders) border
patrols, helicopters, boats, and it shifts it’s frontiers towards Azia
and Africa by financing states (from Ukraine up to Marocco) to enforce
the prevention of migration in its name.

By organising a no border camp in Brussels we want to question this
(anti-) migration policy

WHEN IN BRUSSELS?

- The construction of the camp will be from September 24th until
September 26th 2010.
- Activities will start on September 27th and will continue until
October 3thd.
- During this week we would like to see Brussels swarming with different
activities about (anti-) migration policy and it’s consequences. The
camp is also offering the opportunity to fight together with different
action strategies, but also to build up a longue term dynamic We invite
all (individuals or collectives) to participate as they see fit and to
propose their own activities or cooperations.

There will be four big action days:

On the 26th of Septembre will be a big manifestation to the detention
center. The manifestation will also be linked to the commemoration of
Semira Adamu, who was killed 1998 by cops, who wanted to deport her.

On the 27th of Septembre will be some kind of blockade of the European
Defense Agency.

On the 29th of Septembre will be a mass action against the ECOFIN summit.

On 2nd of Octobre will be a No Border No Nation manifestation.

Also there will be other actions, workshops, presentations and so on.
And there is many space for your ideas.


HOW TO SUPPORT AND HOW TO PARTICIPATE ?

A no border Camp is what everybody wants to make of it, everybody can
play his /her part and offer support.

- By participating in the organisation of the camp, by working in one of
the different workinggroups (mobilisation, logistics, media, big demo,
internet, medical , programmation, welcoming committee, finances,
translations, cooking and juridical)

- By making a (modest or genial) proposal for a workshop, film, expo,
lecture. We propose the following themes:

* The security politics Frontex and the militarisation of borders.
* Clandestinity and the struggle of migrants.
* Capitalism and migration.
* Closed detention centres for migrants and deportations.
* European (anti-)migration politics.

- By mobilising, participating in actions, coming to the big demo, or by
organising your own actions that can halt the deportation machine.

- By organising a benefit (a concert, a night out, a popular kitchen)

- By proposing terrains, sites, sleeping places for actions or activists.

- By doing a financial or material donation

- By offering material (tents, vans, kitchen material, portable toilets…)

You also can join us. The more we are to bring about change, the faster
fortress Europe will fall.


CONTACT: nobordercamp@vluchteling.be

WWW.NOBORDERBXL.EU.ORG



On the website you will also find links to print out posters and flyers
in different languages


Next international meeting will be on the 21st and 22nd of August in
Brussels.

Sint-Stevens-Woluwe - A burning mobile phone antenna belgium

SINT-STEVENS-WOLUWE – In the Frans Smoldersstraat, firemen had to come in the night of Wednessday to Thursday for a burning antenna for mobile phones. The antenna was completely burned.

16/07/2010

Pecq - Police hit over by car belgium

A police officer was badly wounded during a control in front of the police station of Val d'Escaut in Pecq. A car refused to stop on demand of the police, accelerated and hit the officer.

06.06.2010
translated from
http://www.rtlinfo.be/info/votre_region/hainaut/714273/une-policiere-renversee-par-un-automobiliste-a-pecq