Refugee day in Hannover
Since one month 40 refugees from Sudan occupie the Weißekreuzplatz in Hanover city to fight against the german laws for refugees, which prohibit leaving the city, working and getting medical care (except it’s a case of emergency). Moreover the refugees fight against their deportation and for the right to stay here.At the beginning the camp was bigger than it is now because the police came and confiscated most of the tents. Only six tents were left afterwards.The refugees are supported by some alternative young persons and the “VoKü”, a mobile kitchen which is usually located in a local left youth centre and directed by voluntaries who offer meal for free to refugees and supporters. But some of the refugees are on Hunger Strike, one of them since the day the camp was established.
Since two weeks some of the german supporters teach their language once a day and show the Sudanese how to ask someone the way, calling a doctor, etc. On 20th June, World Refugee Day, the Pavillon invited to a reading. Pavillon is a cultural event center next to the Refugee Camp. The reading was supported by Amnesty International and MediNetz. The the topic was 3rd October 2013, Lampedusa and consisted of eye-witness accounts of fisher and Refugees.
On 3rd October 2013 a boat with 500 Refugees capsized because someone lit a blanket to arrest some fishers attention 100 meters away from the beach of Lampedusa. The fishers were able to prevent 50 persons from drowning out, the other refugees died because the coast guards didn’t wanted to help. Pictures of Lampedusa and boats full of refugees were shown simultaneous. The Refugees of Weißekreuzplatz also spend their time listening to the reading. Most of them arrived Lampedusa before coming to Germany.
Right now there are many Cities in Germany dealing with refugee protests. A newsworthy example is a school in Berlin (Gerhart-Hauptmann school), which is occupied by refugees. They are sitting on the rooftop and refuse to go. 400 police men are permanent there and in the current situation police wants to refuse journalists to enter the school.

Lina