Download signs to hold or to put up in a window or near where your live below
www.refugeeaction.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Signs-for-refugee-action.pdf
Please take a photo this Friday, in an online solidarity action to support refugees and refugee activists.
Since the coronavirus crisis, the Australian Government has stressed the importance of social distancing. At the same time, however, the Government refuses to free refugees from environments that make it impossible to do so. Detention centres in all their forms force refugees to use shared utilities, live in close quarters with limited movement and insufficient access to medical care. This puts refugees at high risk and is incredibly dangerous in a time of covid-19.
Refugees here in Australia have started to protest against their inhumane treatment. In the past few weeks we have seen a number of actions by refugees calling for their release. Refugees have staged photo actions in Kangaroo Point in Brisbane and roof protests in Villawood detention centre in Sydney and in Melbourne at the Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA).
At the same time, we have seen the Government exploit this crisis to peel back civic liberties. Refugee advocates have been targeted. Last Friday, the 10th of April, members of the Refugee Action Collective, Victoria were arrested and collectively fined upwards of $40,000. Although the fines were issued under new covid-19 laws, organiser Chris Breen was charged with ‘incitement’ of protest. Shockingly, his charge was laid using an archaic 1958 anti-protest law.
This is a scary time for refugees and refugee advocates alike. But we refuse to be intimidated. This Friday we are calling on all supporters to take a solidarity photo using the phrases:
- Protest is safe, Detention is not #freetherefugees
- I support the Villawood protests #DetentionIsAnInfectionRisk
Join us to stand up and fight for a humane approach to refugees and asylum seekers.
