With the end of the lockdown approaching, we will be able to return to our work. It seems a neighbour, who is not disturbed by us other than seeing us from his seaside villa, has thought of the same thing. So on Monday, May 25th he had a fence put up around the breakfast area. That’s right, a fence blocking the area around the place we normally set up.
The COVID-19 crisis has already put a standstill to our work, and to try and continue to block even the most basic resources to reach people, on purpose, is a disgraceful way to misuse that crisis. This is another attempt to make people invisible, in a way that keeps people as vulnerable as possible and even more at risk, while the violence and abuse they experience from French police during detainment goes unmonitored and unacknowledged. We are looking to address this act with the local municipality, and see if they really approved such a thing.
Some people think fences are the solution to everything! But that’s all it is, a fence – it does not erase the people that come by here. It does not erase the illegal and inhuman detainment they just come out of, and it does not erase their neglected rights to food, water, physical safety, and aid resources.
People will not stop making their journey, and we will not stop our work.
Solidarity across the world! Kesha Niya