Report on the demonstration in Weiden on September 28, 2012 after the suicide trial of two asylum seekers

Around 35 to 40 people gathered for the demonstration after two young refugees had tried to kill themselves. It started at 10 am and lasted until 12:20. The refugee organizers said: “Even if the number of the participants was not high, the action was very successful because of its result.” After a few minutes the members of the Foreigners Office (Auslaenderbehoerde), the Welfare Office (Sozialamt) and the city administration came and spoke with the refugees. They asked the refugees to write their demands and requests and send it to them. Within two weeks they said, they will give an answer. The refugees made clear, that if they do not receive a positive answer, they will leave the lager and built up a tent in the city centre of Weiden.

The demands of the refugees are:

• Special and immediate attention to the cases of Majid Dehghan and Mojtaba Khoubyri. Mojtaba is actually in a psychiatric clinic and Majid is since more than four days now in coma.
• Abolishing of the forced work or slavery work which is called “1-Euro-Job”.
• Receiving Residents Permit in Germany - One who is not entitled to resident permit in Germany lives an unclear life in the asylum camp and faces many limitations and inhuman conditions. All of her/his life is postponed to an ambiguous future. We, the striking asylum seekers of the demand an urgent procedure of our cases. We also demand to be entitled to resident permits in Germany.
• German citizenship for Children born in the camps - The children who are born during their parents asylum seeking procedure, face an ambiguous situation from the very beginning. Although they are considered to be born in Germany, but even for receiving an asylum passport they need a separate procedure than their parents. During this time, which is one of the most critical periods of one’s life, they have no access to sufficient facilities. We demand German passports to be issued for children who are born in the camps during their parents’ asylum seeking process.

We share the rest of our demands with our friends in who are now marching towards Berlin:

• Abolition of Deportation laws - We believe that the right to choose where one lives is of the most basic human rights, and that the sole determining factor of this choice is the individual’s will. The deportation of asylum seekers to their original countries is a violation of this universal right, especially when it occurs due to the economical and political arrangements between the governments of the original and destination countries. The striking asylum seekers demand the German government to stop the current common yet inhumane deportation of asylum seekers.
• Abolition of Residenzpflicht - meanwhile Germany is a part of the Schengen agreement that abolishes boarders between European countries, asylum seekers are not allowed to move beyond a 40 kilometer invisible limit. We consider this systematical isolation of the asylum seekers as unacceptable and condemn it as inhuman treatment.
• Abolition of laws forcing asylum seekers to live in asylum camps - Asylum camps isolate the asylum seekers from the public and sometimes even the urban spheres. The guarded camps and the lack of facilities has turned them in to a place not for living but merely surviving. We demand the abolition of asylum camps where no asylum seeker has any access to a privet space.
• Acceleration of the process of asylum seeking - We demand the procedure to be as fast as possible, we believe that the current waiting time is an indicator of white and psychological torture. We demand a time limit regarding the procedure and result of the asylum case.
• Food packages - We believe any human being is entitled to choose the quantity and the quality of one’s daily meals. Limiting them to a certain food diet is an obvious violation of basic rights of people. We certainly demand the limited food packages to be replaced with the right to choose the diet by the asylum seeker, her- or himself.
• Work Permit - Many of the mass medias have created the illusion that asylum seekers are merely consumers. We believe that it is the current limiting regulations which lead to such situations, therefore we demand unconditional work permit for asylum seekers since we believe any person is able to work to make living and it is also one‘s right to do so.
• German language - As a result of systematic isolation of asylum seekers, they are denied the right to learn German language. We believe that voluntary access to learning German, is ones obvious rights, we demand equal rights to learn German in appropriate institutions to be legally issued.
• Right to choose the location of settlement - In Germany it is not possible for an asylum seeker to choose one’s location of residence even if one’s close family members are living in a certain place, the asylum seeker cannot defiantly stay in the same place. We demand the right to choose the location of residence for all asylum seekers in Germany.

We are all asylum Seekers of the camps in Weiden, governmental district (Regierungsbezirk) of Oberpfalz in Bavaria, Germany.