This letter we sent today to the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong
They were helping us from the beginning. Read this.
Dear friends,
I want to inform about our, ETU-MB’s and Myoeng-dong Sit-in Struggle Collective’s (MSSC) present situation.
On Feb 15 Samar Thapa, present chief of ETU-MB’s Emergency Struggle Committee in Seoul’s Daehak-no was on the way to meet friends from KASAMMAKO (Filipino Community in Korea) to hand over some propaganda material. On the way to the meeting point he was captured by 4 immigration officers and directly send him to Yeosu detention center in the south of the peninsula.
Direct after this incident some members of MSSC decided and the day after also Samar and our comrades in Hwaseong detention center decided the same.
On Tuesday, Feb 17 we wanted during a permitted rally, openly declare the beginning of the unlimited hunger strike until Samar is release. 45 min after the start of the rally our members (because I was already short before the rally, while checking the area, arrested, but some hours later released with the order to leave the country until March 1st ) had to learn that in their direct neighborhood around 100 immigration officers were hiding, ready to attack them. 200 riot policeman were already on spot. So we decided to finish the rally. While they wanted to reach they were blocked by the cops using force and attacked by the immigration officers. Only because the strong struggle of Korean workers and students joined our rally, we lost “only” one member, Gurung Gupta Bahadur from Nepal.
On Feb 22, last Sunday, we wanted with a mass rally celebrate 100 days of sit-in struggle. While arriving the we’d to learn that at least 1000 riot cops, only the front line units, the so-called “killer cops” were on the spot. In the same time we got the information that the government had announced that they will go to arrest all the “illegal” migrant activists. Only the massive joining from migrant workers and mainly Korean students, all together we were more than 1000 people, prevented us from to be attacked and arrested.
Beside the threat to arrest us and other migrant activists anytime and everywhere from March 1st, the government also announced, will start a full-scale crackdown period in general.
The meaning is: from now we are daily in danger to be attacked and arrested. Just like this is our present situation.
On the other side since Monday more and more migrant workers in detention centers join the hunger strike, until now alone in Hwaseong 18. And the prison authorities strike back. Yesterday the authorithies in Hwaseong moved by using force two Russian and 5 Kazakh hunger striking migrants into a “punishment cell” without windows and light, actually build for one person. This is totally violating human rights.
If you will be able to do something what could help us, it would be very helpful. Please remember that from now every letter from us could be the last.
In solidarity
Christian Karl
ETU-MB
International Secretary
Here you can see the documentary about Feb 17 attack:
http://www.nodong.com/zero/view.php?id=leesanghyun&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=144
And here read a article about Sunday’s rally and demonstration:
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2004/02/103671.php
현대판 노예섬 보호소를 해체하라!!!
FIGHT FOR RELEASE GUPTA, SAMAR, K.B., HAQ
AND ALL OTHER MIGRANT WORKERS FROM DETENTION CENTERS!
FREEDOM FOR ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN S. KOREA!
LET’S FIGHT TOGETHER FOR A WORLD
WITHOUT EXPLOITATION AND OPPRESSION!
ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE, ONLY
IF YOU WANT AND FIGHT FOR IT!
굽타, 사말, 깨비, 헉 동지와 다른 잡혀간 이주 노동자들의 석방을 위해 투쟁!
한국의 모든 양심수들의 석방을 위해 투쟁
착취와 억압이 없는 그날을 위해 투쟁
다른 세상은 가능하다, 당신이 그걸 원하고 그것을 위해 투쟁한다면!
투쟁!
|
torture in hwaseong 
