Amsterdam Anti-Detention Action

Opening of Detention Centres

09.Apr.07 - Days before the official opening of the new detention boats in Zaandam, north of Amsterdam around 90 activists 'opened' the detention center by unexpectedly cutting down the fences surrounding the installation with bold cutters. The dutch ministry of justice plans to start using the new facility which provides 300 two-person cells for detention of 'illegal migrants' later this month. By dismantling more than 150 meters of security fencing the activists attempted to prevent or delay the opening of the new detention facility expressing their opposition to the repressive dutch migration policies and the disregard for the human rights of migrants that are imprisoned on a routine basis.

One of the most severe means that can be used against citizens is brought in practice on these boats: deprivation of liberty. To justify this treatment in Dutch media and politics an image is provoked that links migration and criminality. The Netherlands put per 100.000 inhabitants more people in alien detention than any other European country.

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