Immigrants schedule demonstration for September 17

Immigrants working in Porto, Lisbon, Odemira and the Algarve have scheduled a demonstration in front of the Assembly of the Republic for September 17th, at a time when 80 immigrants are being held in a temporary installation center in Portugal.

The revelation was made to Lusa by former BE deputy José Soeiro at the end of a meeting that took place on Tuesday, in Porto, between immigrants from various countries to try to gather as many people as possible for the demonstration.

According to José Soeiro, the choice of the 17th is due to the fact that on that date "work in the plenary session of the Assembly of the Republic will resume" and, on the agenda of the deputies, there will be the resumption of the "debate on the immigration law and the nationality law" two bills "returned to the Assembly of the Republic due to the rejection of the Constitutional Court".

"And it's important that on that day, when this discussion resumes, it takes into account the voice of thousands of immigrants who are mobilizing in the Algarve, Odemira, Lisbon, and Porto to be in front of Parliament on the 17th at 2 p.m.," explained the former deputy, who spoke as a member of the Immigrant Solidarity Association.

Regarding the "80 immigrants detained by order of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) for registering passages in other countries before arriving in Portugal and not for having committed any crime," highlighted José Soeiro, the deputy accused the Government of "spending a lot of money in the penal state on repressive policies against immigrant workers , building detention centers" emphasizing that "the State is using PRR funds that should be for housing to build detention centers for immigrant workers."

"The State should be using this money to put public services, namely AIMA, into operation to respect the law that is not being respected, to guarantee the regularization of immigrants who have already been paying deductions here for two, three, four years," he insisted.

As part of the demonstration, a delegation of eight immigrants, representing the four origins in which they are working in Portugal, intends to deliver a document to the President of the Assembly of the Republic containing the demands that are the basis of the protest.

The organization is being handled by the Associação Solidariedade Imigrante and the immigrant collective that organized the last protest in front of the Temporary Installation Center in Porto in July.

Immigrants demand the right to documents, family reunification, the release of immigrants detained in temporary accommodation centers without having committed any crime, as well as respect, dignity and justice.