Call for the demonstration

No deportation to Sierra Leone!

Since October 18, Sierra Leonean Refugees have been protesting day and night in the freezing cold against deportations and the hearings of a Sierra Leonean embassy delegation.

The hearings took place in the Central Immigration Office in Munich and have now been completed. The invitation to the hearings left the Sierra Leoneans with uncertainty and fear. As a consequence, those hearings may be lead to deportation – from which they have not been safe for more than one month now.

Many of them have been living in Bavaria and Munich for over 5 and up to 17 years, went to school, worked, were active in football clubs, children are going to school and kindergarten. Munich and Bavaria are their home. The Sierra Leoneans want to continue their lives here in Germany safely. They would like to be able to resume their work and their education and be part of society.

A return to Sierra Leone is not safe for them. Sierra Leone is not safe. They fled from Sierra Leone for different reasons, across the desert and the Mediterranean Sea. Years after this traumatic experience, their lives are now in danger again. In Sierra Leone, they face no future. The President of Sierra Leone threatens to punish the protesters after their arrival in Sierra Leone.

With a demonstration, the affected Sierra Leonean refugees want to draw attention to their situation again and appeal to all responsible authorities and to the new German Government: Please recognize the humanitarian emergency and stop deportations to Sierra Leone.

Together with different solidary actors from Munich’s Civil Society, they ask for protection and respect for human rights.

We demand:

→ No deportation to Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone is not safe. We call on the responsible authorities to stop all planned deportations to Sierra Leone.

→ No embassy hearings: The practice of embassy hearings with the purpose of identity verification is highly intransparent and racist in nature. We call on the new Federal Government to distance itself from this practice. We further demand the full disclosure of the results of bilateral negotiations as well as the financial expenses that have made those hearings possible.

→ City asylum in Munich: We call on Munich’s city politicians to do everything possible to grant us local protection against deportation.

→ Right to Stay: After the many years that we have lived here, we are demanding a residence permit that provides us with safety and ends the uncertain status that comes with repeated rejections and the so called “Duldung”.

→ Right to work: we want to be part of society. We would like to be able to resume our work and provide for our own living.

→ No sanctions: The exercise of our democratic right of freedom of expression and assembly must not have a negative impact on our residence status. We demand a repression-free return to the respective communal accommodation.

Please wear your FFP2-mask.