Ethiopians in new cathedral protest

newsinenglish, April 27, 2011  
Around 20 Ethiopian asylum seekers protesting against the Norwegian immigration authority’s decision to send them home have returned to Oslo Cathedral for a new protest, following their occupation of the church and hunger strikes in February.



A group of Ethiopian asylum seekers have set up a large white tent outside Oslo

Cathedral to protest the Norwegian government's decision to send them home.

Several members of the group also took part in similar action last February.

PHOTO: Views and News

The protestors set up a large white tent directly beside the entrance to the cathedral early in the morning of Wednesday 27 April. Their return came after police action yesterday during which the authorities moved 53 Ethiopian asylum seekers out of transitional asylum centers at Refstad and Torshov in the capital, during which three arrests were made.
Barricades, police dogs and helicopters
32 of the thrown-out refugees managed to find their way back into the building and barricaded themselves into a room, but were thrown out again by police using dogs and helicopters.

While Guri Norstrøm of the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (Utlendingsdirektoratet, UDI) described the removal in newspaper Aftenposten as “non-dramatic,” with the protestors leaving voluntarily, the asylum seekers themselves claimed that they were put in handcuffs and handled forcefully.

They also said that police had dropped them off in a number of places around Oslo, including places with little access to public transport. The police themselves would not comment on this. More Reading on newsinenglish.