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Roundup: 40 plus refugees in Czech facility on hunger strike for fear of deportation

Xinhua, November 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

In fear of their deportation from the Czech Republic to their country of origin, some refugees at the detention facility in Drahonice started a hunger strike on Tuesday and did not come for breakfast on Wednesday, a government spokesperson said.

Interior Minister spokeswoman Lucie Novakova on Wednesday said the refugees decided to do so after the Czech Republic on Tuesday returned 40 foreigners to the European Union country in which they asked for asylum.

Then the false information that some foreigners were returned to their country of origin spread among some refugees, the spokeswoman said. This is why some of the refugees started saying that they might go on a hunger strike, she said.

Volunteers working in the detention facility reported that the hunger strike is continuing and some of the refugees on hunger strike are facing health problem. A volunteer said three refugees have caused injuries to themselves.

According to Novakova, food was refused by 28 refugees on Tuesday and 40 did not went to breakfast on Wednesday morning.

She said it is not clear how many refugees have started a hunger strike. Detention centre staff have explained the real state of affairs to the refugees, trying to convince them to eat.

Mikulas Vymetal, a protestant priest in contact with the refugees, said 44 refugees, including 43 Iraqi and one Somali, from the Drahonice detention center launched a hunger strike in protest against their long-time detention in the Czech Republic and possible being return to their home countries.

In a statement signed by the initials of two refugees that presented by Vymetal, the mostly Iraqi refugees complained about being detained in the country for more than 90 days in some cases. Vymetal said the fears of the refugees came from the fact that some of them have received a decision on their deportation and they are afraid of return to their country of origin.

Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said it was a positive thing that some illegal migrants were being returned to the country in which they had asked for asylum "within the capabilities."

The former prison in Drahonice has been turned into a detention centre for illegal immigrants recently, and it operated since early October. More than half of its 240 beds are currently occupied and only men are staying in the facility. Endit