This week: activists in Europe and in Israel’s Holot detention center mark International Refugee Day with marches for asylum seekers’ rights.
Activists carry a banner during the final day of the March for Freedom of migrants, Brussels, Belgium, June 20, 2014. The 500-kilometer protest march held by migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and supporters started in Strasbourg, France five weeks ago and ended in Brussels for a week of action. The march across Europe demands radical changes in European asylum policy and the rights for all people to move freely. Since 2000, more than 20,000 migrants have died while attempting to reach Europe. (Activestills.org)
An activist shouts slogans during the final day of the March for Freedom of migrants, Brussels, Belgium, June 20, 2014. (Activestills.org)
Click for +972’s full coverage of the asylum seeker struggle in Israel
Activists carry “global passports” during the final day of the March for Freedom of migrants, Brussels, Belgium, June 20, 2014. (Activestills.org)
African asylum seekers jailed in the Holot detention center protest against their detention and mark International Refugee Day, June 20, 2014. (Activestills.org)
African asylum seekers jailed in the Holot detention center protest against their detention and to mark International Refugee Day, June 20, 2014. (Activestills.org)
Photo diary: Inside ‘Holot’ detention center for asylum seekers
African asylum seekers jailed in the Holot detention center protest their detention and mark International Refugee Day, June 20, 2014. (Activestills.org)
Activists carry a banner during a protest in front of the immigration office (CGRA) in Brussels, Belgium, June 25, 2014. The protest is part of a whole week of activities organized by hundreds of migrants and asylum-seekers who established a protest camp in a park in the center of Brussels. (Activestills.org)
Tents in the protest camp established by hundreds of migrants and asylum-seekers in a park in Brussels, Belgium, June 25, 2014. The camp was built after the arrival of the March of Freedom which crossed different countries during a 5-week, 500-kilometer journey. (Activestills.org)
Activists carry banners during a protest in front of the immigration office (CGRA) in Brussels, Belgium, June 25, 2014. The transnational movement aims to denounce the restrictive European migration policies. The demands include permanent documents for all, freedom of movement and residency for asylum seekers, end of imprisonment and deportation. (Activestills.org)
Activists carry banners during a protest in front of the immigration office (CGRA) in Brussels, Belgium, June 25, 2014. Activists intend to organize different protests before and during the European Council Summit which will take place June 26-27. (Activestills.org)
African asylum seekers jailed in the Holot detention center look at a street newspaper produced by the Activestills collective during a protest marking the International Refugee Day, June 20, 2014. (Activestills.org)
Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war – the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel and the massive retaliatory Israeli attacks on Gaza. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing violence.
We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed unleashed by these events has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Hamas’ murderous assault in southern Israel has devastated and shocked the country to its core. Israel’s retaliatory bombing of Gaza is wreaking destruction on the already besieged strip and killing a ballooning number of civilians. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to escalate their attacks on Palestinians.
This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 13 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, the entrenched occupation, and an increasingly normalized siege on Gaza.
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