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As part of a national campaign against racism, several organizations have installed thousands of chairs in front of the Reichstag building. They demand the admission of more refugees, especially from the overcrowded Greek camps.
Various refugee aid organizations have installed 13,000 white chairs in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin as “a symbol of the willingness to accept people from Moria and all the overcrowded camps at the external borders of the EU.”
“Humanitarian disaster at the external borders”
The groups Seebrücke, Sea-Watch, #LeaveNoOneBehind and Campact are calling on politicians to “finally end the humanitarian catastrophe at Europe’s external borders and evacuate the camps.” The chairs symbolize the people currently living in the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, the organizations said. At the same time, they must clarify “the place and the disposition of cities, states and civil society to accept.”
The situation in overcrowded Greek camps has recently worsened, he said, referring to the discovery of the first Corona case in Moria. Similar campaigns as part of the “We Come United” anti-racist days are supposed to take place in several other German cities, as well as Vienna.
Germany welcomed 465 people from Moria
“The Bundestag was in summer recess, the acute humanitarian catastrophe at the European external borders was not,” said Tareq Alaows of the Seebrücke organization. “The emergency demands quick help and immediate action.”
Alaows noted that since the beginning of the year only 465 people from Moria have come to Germany as part of a campaign to help sick children and their families. “That is absolutely absurd when you look at the suffering in the place and the willingness to accept people here in Germany.”
Doreen Johann from the Sea-Watch organization added: “After the images with right-wing extremists in front of the Reichstag building went around the world in recent days, we want to show what belongs in front of this building: a protest by respect for human dignity and human rights “.
A European maritime rescue program is required
The organizations also demand that federal states “use their leeway and decide on state admission programs” and that the federal government allow it. They are also calling for a European maritime rescue program. Until then, “civil actors should no longer be criminalized and States must fulfill their duty of maritime rescue.”
Access to asylum procedures must be guaranteed as the basis of asylum law, they warn. Furthermore, “human rights violations such as illegal repatriation and mistreatment of those seeking protection by EU states must be stopped.” During the German Presidency of the Council of the EU, the federal government must take care of this.
