From the comrades at Hurriya
On 11 December, a cop harassed and beat a guy detained in Ponte Galeria (the immigration prison outside Rome) after he fell sick and was taken to the Hospital. Left alone in a cell, the detainee cut his wrists. When the other prisoners saw their friend covered in blood, they started a riot that spread through all of the men’s section of the dentention centre. Mattresses were burnt and the cells were completely destroyed. Prisoners were made to sleep in the corridors and in four cells that had been devastated in a previous riot.
A sit-in demonstration had already been called for the next day (12 December) outside the women’s section of Ponte Galeria. On the day, the women inside were locked in their rooms, refused access to the outside areas in order to avoid any communication with the people standing in solidarity with them. An hour into the demo, a further protest began in the male section, people occupied the roof and set more of the prison on fire.
Due to the fire, the mens section of Ponte Galeria was shut down and evacuated. Some of the prisoners have been sent to the detention centre in Bari.
Following the evacuation of the men’s section, prisoners in the women’s section began a hunger strike. This is now over, after the women were threatened and five of them deported to Nigeria. The men’s section remains closed.
Solidarity to all those imprisoned and fighting for their freedom.