BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:767@palestinecampaign.org DTSTART:20140417T160000Z DTEND:20140417T180000Z DTSTAMP:20140401T154033Z URL:https://palestinecampaign.org/events/manchester-g4s-protest/ SUMMARY:Manchester G4S Protest DESCRIPTION:Manchester Stop G4S Campaign  invites you to join our demonst ration\n\nJoin Manchester Palestine  Solidarity Campaign\, Women Asylum S eekers Together and Public Sector workers who face privatisation of their jobs.\n\n April 17th is an international day for solidarity actions with Palestinian prisoners.\n\nOur demonstration is in solidarity with all poli tical prisoners\, including refugees who have committed no crime held here in Britain . They have all suffered at the hands of the private security firms: G4S in Palestine and Harmondsworth detention centre near Heathrow a irport\; and SERCO at Yarl’s Wood Detention centre.\n\n \;\n\nManche ster City Council has contacts with both G4S and SERCO\n\n \;\n\nWe ar e specifically targeting G4S for its complicity with the criminal practice s of the Israeli state. Palestinians are illegally held\, many without cha rge or trial\, in Israeli jails where physical violence and torture is com monplace. G4S provides services to the Ketziot\, Damon and Meggido prisons and the Jerusalem (Russian Compound) and Kishon (Jalameh) detention facil ities\n\n \;\n\nPalestinian Women Political Prisoners.  \n\nWe will h ighlight the plight of Palestinian women in Israeli prisons and in particu lar Lena Jarboni\, and specifically G4S complicity in their torture and su ffering.\n\nCurrently there are 21 Palestinian women political prisoners i n Israeli prisons. Most of them are in HaSharon prison in Israel . The Bri tish private security contractor G4S provides the full security system at HaSharon including the central command room for the entire prison. The tra nsfer of Palestinian prisoners from the occupied West Bank and Gaza to int o Israel (to HaSharon Prison) is illegal under international law and const itutes a war crime\, G4S is complicit in this by the services it provides to HaSharon Prison.\n\nBefore being brought to prison the women have to en dure weeks\, sometimes months\, of torture at one of Israel's interrogatio n centres to extract confessions from them - usually the infamous 'Russian Compound' in Jerusalem or the notorious Al-Jalame torture den - both thes e facilities are also secured by G4S.\n\nThe occupation has again extended the detention of Palestinian prisoners lawyer Shireen Issawi (and her bro thers Shadi and Medhat)\, she was arrested on 6th March 2014 and her next hearing is on 26th March. We are also campaigning for her (and her brother s) immediate and unconditional release.\n\n \;\n\nYarl’s Wood detent ion centre shames Britain \nHundreds of female asylum-seekers are housed i n Yarl’s Wood. They have done nothing wrong\, so why is the British stat e locking them up?\nWomen detainees and ex-detainees have been coming forw ard to speak out about the abuse they suffered and witnessed\, and to dema nd redress. The racist and sexist regime\, of legal\, psychological and ph ysical abuse which women frequently describe as mental torture at Yarl's W ood\, has been covered up for far too long. The women imprisoned in Yarl ’s Wood are systematically set up for abuse by the fact that they are tr eated as liars\, who must prove themselves truthful whilst being detained indefinitely.\n\nBy law the ‘burden of proof’ in the asylum &\; imm igration system means they are guilty until proven innocent. The women in Yarl’s Wood have between them successfully escaped every kind of abuse a nd violence that women commonly face around the world – rape\, sexual ab use\, forced marriage\, Female Genital Mutilation\, trafficking\, domestic violence\, child abuse\, anti-gay persecution. It is known that violence against women and girls is common worldwide. Yet their claims are routinel y disbelieved\, and their credibility attacked. Is it any surprise that th ey be targeted for sexual abuse by guards in detention? The sexual abuse a nd its cover-up that was publicly exposed by The Observer (14/09/13) are t he inevitable products of this regime.\n\n \;\n\nHarmondsworth Detenti on Centre.\n\n \;\n\nRecently Nasser Al-Mosaawi a Kuwaiti Bedouin was beaten up by G4S guards in front of everyone in Heathrow airport\, while t rying to remove him.\n\n \;\n\nMeanwhile four G4S guards are finally f acing prosecution for the manslaughter of Jimmy Mubenga was unlawfully kil led on a deportation flight to Angola while in the custody of G4S officers who held him down\, impeding his breathing\, and failed to offer resuscit ation when he collapsed.\n\nBut G4S the company will not be charged. That is simply outrageous as the abuse of prisoners by G4S is systematic not si mply a problem of rogue guards.\n\n \;\n\nWhat Can We Do\n\n \;\n\ n Working together\, we can make G4S a live issue in our dealings with Lo cal Authorities\, NHS employers and Commissioners\, or anyone else involve d in procurement. We cannot tolerate a regime in which Best Value means ch eapest\, anti-union\, poor terms and conditions – and conflicts with uni on policies.\n\nGetting rid of G4S will result in real solidarity with Pal estinian Political Prisoners.\n\n \; CATEGORIES:Priority LOCATION:Albert Square\, In front of Manchester Town Hall\, Manchester\, No rth West\, United Kingdom GEO:53.42217729999999;-2.317841499999986 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=In front of Manchester Town Hall\, Manchester\, North West\, United Kingdom;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITL E=Albert Square:geo:53.42217729999999,-2.317841499999986 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR