Hundreds of asylum seekers in protest: 'Stop imprisonment and deportation'
Around 700 refugees protested near the Knesset and the Supreme Court against Israel's policy towards asylum seekers refusing to return to Africa—'We know of people who left and were slaughtered.'
About 700 asylum seekers gathered on Thursday in front of the Knesset and the Supreme Court for a protest titled "Don’t deport us". The protestors objected the country's policy to detain, without any time frame, asylum seekers refusing to leave the country to Africa.
In the next few months judges of the Supreme Court are expected to rule a petition regarding this policy, presented to them by civil rights organizations claiming it is wholly illegal. Last year, the Supreme Court released an interim order ruling that this policy, first enacted in April 2014 by former Minister of the Interior Gilad Erdan, will be halted until a final ruling on the matter.
The protestors, most of which came from Holot Detention Center where they are held, called out in English, "We are refugees and asylum seekers, not migrant workers" and "Stop the imprisonment", and holding signs saying "we need protection. Stop the deportation". Some even held up pictures of their friends, who they claim have been murdered in Africa after being deported from Israel.
Hagos Tekle, 32, who is seeking shelter from Eritrea, told Ynet that he came to the protest from Holot Detention Center where he was held for the past four months. "We came to tell the Israeli public, the government and the Supreme Court that we are asylum seekers who fled from countries where we were oppressed. We came here in search our safety. We fled in fear for our lives."
"The government doesn't check our requests for asylum and declares us all migrant workers," Tekle added, saying "people who are sent back to Africa don't receive any protection, and their lives become endangered."
According to the Population and Immigration Authority, there are currently about 45,000 asylum seekers in Israel who illegally entered the country through the border with Egypt, most of whom are refugees from Sudan and Eritrea—countries that Israel abstains from deporting them back to because of its commitment to international law.
