London No Borders is holding a day of demonstrations in London to protest against border controls and increasing domestic surveillance.
Under the banner ‘Life is too short to be controlled’, the demonstrations will begin on Saturday 23 January at 2pm at St Pancras International to protest at the border controls at the Eurostar Terminal, where there is a small ‘holding centre’. Campaigners will later move on to a rally outside Westminster council’s CCTV headquarters in Piccadilly Circus.
For activists at London No Borders, Britain’s strict border controls and increasingly intensive domestic surveillance tactics are political issues that are inseparable. ‘In a globalised economy’, says London activist Thomas Hardenburg, ‘both are aimed at exercising controlling people’s lives and maintaining what is considered “public order”.’
Indeed, stringent migration controls in Britain mean that thousands of migrants, who are unable to enter the UK, sleep rough in so-called ‘jungles’ in Calais and along the French coast (against which No Borders UK has campaigned heavily). Britain also detains around 2,500 people within its borders, including children, at any one time, and sometimes for several years in the biggest complex of detention centres in Europe.
Rosie Young of No Borders explains, ‘London is the perfect place for a demonstration against the increasing madness of surveillance and data retention. It is the city where people get arrested for photographing buildings, where the Met’s notorious Forward Intelligence Team is monitoring political activities, and where each of its inhabitants passes 300 CCTV cameras every day!’
Related links
London No Borders: ‘Life is too short to be controlled’
Demonstration on: Saturday 23 January 2010
Download a flyer (pdf file, 116kb)