Next Saturday, Black Lives Matter NL organizes a demonstration against the further legalization of police brutality. It is also World Refugee Day and protests are planned in several cities. As we are committed to climate justice, we support these demonstrations and call on everyone within the climate movement to participate.
Stop Legalizing Police Violence #BLM
Refugee Lives Matter! Protest during World Refugee Day
World Refugee Day: Stop the criminalization of migration!
The fight for the rights of refugees and migrants is an integral part of the fight for climate justice. The way refugees and migrants are treated in Netherlands and the EU is inhumane and unacceptable.
That people cross artificial borders is inseparable from a long history of Western colonialism and imperialism. The climate crisis caused by Western capitalism will cause many more people to be forced to leave their homes in the coming decades.
These people and everyone else who is forced to leave their home have the right to secure and free access to Europe now and in the future. The criminalization of migration must stop!
You can find more information about the link between climate and migration here:
https://www.oneworld.nl/lezen/klimaat/klimaatonrecht/dit-zijn-de-onzichtbare-klimaatvluchtelingen/
https://www.oneworld.nl/anders/background/nieuw-de-klimaatvluchteling/
Stop Legalizing Police Violence #BLM
An amendment of the law on the use of force by the police has passed almost unanimously in the Parliament and will be discussed before the summer recess in the First Chamber.
This new “official instruction” provides, among other things, the possibility of using pepper spray and electric pulses (taser) in the very broad term “resistance to arrest”. The police will soon also be allowed to use rubber bullets “against people who disturb public order”. According to lawyers and human rights organizations, the police even theoretically have the right to shoot protestors.
The new official instruction also states that in the future the police can shoot a fleeing suspect for arrest, even if violence or the threat of violence has already passed. The change in law also encourages abuse of power and impunity, as agents may get away with lower punishments for manslaughter and violence.
There are also other worrying changes in the new official instruction, such as the removal of the ban on the use of pepper spray against pregnant women and persons under the age of 12 and older than 65.
More info can be found in various articles on Lilith Mag and Control Alt Delete:
https://www.lilithmag.nl/blog/politie-mag-onder-nieuwe-ambtsinstructie-mis-meer-geweld-gebruiken
https://controlealtdelete.nl/blog/taser-pepperspray-en-rubberkogels
People of color and marginalized groups are already systematically affected by ethnic profiling and are more often victims of police brutality, also here in the Netherlands. It is therefore predictable that the extreme broadening of powers for police brutality will hit them disproportionally hard. We refuse to accept this. People of color have been suffering from systematic exploitation and discrimination for far too long. It is time for justice and investment in their communities, not the further escalation of repression and police brutality.
In addition, there is a huge risk that these new powers will be used to respond to street protests with state violence even more often, for example through the frequent use of rubber bullets. This is already the norm in several countries, with often horrifying consequences. For example, in November 2018, 28 people were blinded, 5 people’s hands were ripped off, 341 people were injured and 3 people died in France as a result of police brutality against demonstrators (and bystanders).
In a world of extreme inequality that is likely to become largely unlivable, street protest is not only legitimate, but vital. It is high time for a revolution, not for repressing social movements.
This dystopian change of law now threatens to be implemented without any social discussion. That is why we call on everyone to take to the streets on Saturday:
Support the Black Lives Matter movement and stop legalizing police brutality!
Close the detention centers and stop deportations, legalize all refugees and migrants!
Code Rood / Extinction Rebellion NL / Extinction Rebellion The Hague / ASEED Europe
The Black Lives Matter demonstration in The Hague will start at 14:00 at Malieveld. The organization of the protest has asked everyone to participate as individuals, so flags and banners with logos of climate groups should be left at home this time. More info about the protest can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/274787527202704/
In Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Tilburg, Wageningen, Amersfoort, Leiden, Utrecht and Enschede, demonstrations will be held at 14:00 during World Refugee Day. More info about the different demonstrations can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/247986969883889/