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Wormwood Scrubs Free the Yarl's Wood Three
On sunday afternoon 14 September 2003, rhythms of resistance samba band joined a Trans-European Roma Federstion protest and made a lot of noise at wormwood scrubbs prison.
The demonstration was called in protest at the detention of Kosovan Roma, Behar Lemani - Prison No. EH9849- Aliane Ahmed - Prison No: HE5354(which arose out of the destruction by fire of a group4 run detention centre where there was no sprinkler system fitted) and Nassem Mosstaffa -whose Prison number is unkown..
Whilst watched by a single warder, cctv cameras, and more surrepticiously by a duo from the FIT (Forward Intelligence Team) - see nice picture of them:) - the noise demo entered the prison grounds and proceeded to make its way round the walls with rousing and loud samba music that all the prisoners must have heard.
after going round one side, the band doubled back in front of the main gates and proceeded round the other side. a football kicked over the wall got kicked back and lots of loud music played for more than half an hour. the band had another gig (for the london festival of light helping the 'cardboard citizen' samba band on the procession), so we were stopping anyway, when the police helicopter turned up and then several police cars and a van. so the band escorted the police off the premises and then dispersed:)
thoughout the demonstration we called for the release of the 'yarl's wood three' (Behari Lemani and Henry Momadou sentenced to four years each and Aliane Ahmed to eighteen months), but we hoped this action will also focuss on the plight of Kosovo Roma, demanding justice for the 120,000 Roma exiles ethnically-cleansed from Kosovo and now scattered around Europe
Behari Lemani a Kosovo/Roma was sentenced to four years in prison for his alleged part in the so-called "riot" at Yarl's Wood Detention Centre last year. A fire destroyed a large part of the Centre, and a number of inmates, including Roma, ran away.
Lemani was among tens of thousands of Kosovo Roma, who have had their homes burnt down. In Western Kosovo, the Albanian paramilitaries rule a reign of terror and no Kosovans can return to their villages. More than a hundred thousand Roma have been exiled from their homelands and scattered through Europe.
No one has been called to account for the arson attacks on 10,000 Romani homes in the province, while Lemani is now locked up following the fire and destruction of a detested detent ion centre for desperate asylum-seekers like himself?
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