Between 2020 and 1 April 2021, Denmark has revoked or not renewed the residence permits of 380 Syrians, claiming that certain parts of Syria (Damascus and the Rif region) are “safe”. While many of them are waiting for their cases to be finally decided in appeal, 39 Syrians have already been put in a “return position”, meaning that they are at risk of being returned to Syria. Amnesty International believes that any return to Syria would be a violation of the international obligation of non-refoulement, which prohibits states from transferring people to a place where they would be at real risk of serious human rights violations. Read more from Amnesty.
The vigil was physically attacked by a lone counter-demonstrator, presumed to be from the Far Right. After he had broken a banner pole, he was restrained an removed, and the vigil continued with speeches.
Our words to the vigil:
“Greetings and solidarity from Syria Solidarity UK. Three of us spoke to the Danish ambassador here on seventh May when we presented a letter of protest from eight UK Syrian organisations.
“He said: ‘We had a moment of difficulty in 2015 when many asylum seekers came.’
“We said that was a moment of grace for Europe, when Europe opened its borders to Syrians, and it’s a shame that European leaders could not live up to it. Since then, there’s been a race to the bottom on asylum across Europe, and Denmark is in the lead. We are very afraid that other other countries will follow that bad example.
“We are not proud of what’s happening already in the UK, with Priti Patel leading an assault to asylum rights, including the use of old army barracks as refugee camps.
“But the good news is that—just as Syrians walked bravely through Europe’s borders in 2015—they are now organising and leading a fight back from the camps, with the help of dedicated NGOs like Care4Calais and others. Pennally is closed and we’ll see what happens in Napier after the great high court victory in June.
“And they’re leading the protests in Denmark too.
“Wherever there are Syrians there’s a fight back. The revolution still lives in Idlib but also in Copenhagen and in London!”