In Pictures

In Pictures: Israel breaks up migrant camp

Israeli police re-arrest 1,000 African asylum seekers who were protesting their indefinite detention.

African asylum seekers march from the Holot detention centre, where they are jailed, to the Israeli-Egyptian border, in protest against Israel(***)s asylum policies, calling on the UN and the Red Cross to intervene.

30 Jun 2014

Israel-Egypt border – Israeli police have raided a protest camp near the Israeli-Egyptian border, arresting the 1,000 African asylum seekers protesting there, and injuring dozens.

A group of asylum seekers, mainly from Eritrea and Sudan, left Israel’s Holot detention centre on Friday in a mass act of civil disobedience. Opened six months ago, the detention facility is referred to by the government as an “open prison”. Detainees are forced to participate in a head count three times a day, can’t work or study, and live under harsh conditions.

Since the detention facility was set up, Israeli immigration police have imprisoned more than 2,500 African asylum seekers under the country’s so-called “Infiltrators Law”, which allows Israel to detain, without charge or trial, migrants who have entered the country without legal documentation.

The Israeli Ministry of Interior does not process individual asylum requests; according to human rights groups, the country has recognised less than 200 asylum seekers as refugees since its creation in 1948.

The detainees decided to march towards the Israeli-Egyptian border, only a few kilometres from Holot, to demand that Israel and the international community recognise in their refugee status, or alternatively allow them to go to Egypt, where most travelled to Israel from.

The Israeli army and police forces prevented the marchers from advancing to the border, and a temporary camp was established nearby.

Forty-eight hours later, Israeli immigration police were sent to the camp in large numbers, forcibly boarding all the protesters on a bus, and returning them to prison.

The mainly Eritrean and Sudanese migrants left the Holot camp facility on June 27 because Israel had not processed their claims for asylum.

"We are going to stay near the border with Egypt until a solution is found so our rights are respected," a statement by the migrant activists said.

Israeli soldiers try to stop African asylum seekers from approaching the Israel-Egypt border.

Army and police forces prevented the marchers from advancing to the border and a temporary camp was established nearby.

Since the "open prison" was set up, Israeli immigration police has imprisoned more than 2,500 asylum seekers under what authorities call the "Infiltrators Law".

African asylum seekers conduct evening prayers in the protest camp.

African asylum seekers wake up in the protest camp on June 28.

In the "open prison", detainees are forced to participate in a head count three times a day; they cannot work or study, and have to live in the facility under harsh conditions.

The Infiltrators Law allows Israel to detain indefinitely, and without a trial, asylum seekers that lack a valid visa.

Asylum seekers charge their phones in the protest camp.

Volunteers from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel treat African asylum seekers.

Israeli policemen and immigration officers arrest African asylum seekers.

African asylum seekers react to the approach of immigration police.

It took 48 hours before immigration police were sent to the camp in large numbers to forcibly take all protesters back to the prison.