Today, on World Refugee Day, at 10h at Square of Europe a protest action „Escaped to death. Fortress Europe: clean and responsible. How much more death until solidarity?“ was held.
The aim of the action was informing the public that at the borders of Europe – especially at the Mediterranean, in our immediate proximity, more and more migrants and refugees are dying. It is estimated that from 2000 until today almost 30000 people dyed while trying to reach the territory of Europe. In 2014. in the Mediterranean 3,419 people lost their lives, and in the first half of 2015 this number reached a worrying 1,829 deaths. The deaths of migrants are a consequence of European restrictive policies, that are building a tight wall, „fortress Europe“ towards those that are in need of protection. The action was also a plea to Croatian politicians that have the power of influence in EU structures, to use their voices in lobbying for a change and practises with more solidarity towards refugees.
Besides symbolically covering themselves with white sheets, the activists read a declaration and a small part of the names from the list of those who died, that were afterwards sent to the Croatian branch office of the European Commission and to our MPs in the European Parliament. The action was jointly organised by volunteers of Center for Peace Studies, students of Peace Studies, members of No Border initiative, Medika and White Angels.
