Nigerian men extend Dublin hunger strike

ABOUT 70 Nigerians are remaining on hunger strike in protest over fears they are to be deported.

Yesterday the group, who are fathers of Irish-born citizens, held a protest outside the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) on Dublin’s Burgh Quay. They were supported by members of Residents Against Racism (RAR).

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said that people would not be deported while a residency application was underway.

Most of the men arrived here after January 1 to be reunited with their wives and had applied for residency on the basis of their Irish-born children.

All the men had been staying at a hostel at Dublin’s Lower Gardiner Street and signing on with the GNIB. Last Wednesday they were given letters telling them to report to a garda at the guesthouse-hostel at 5pm the next day.

According to Rosanna Flynn of RAR the letters to the Nigerian men insisted they report twice daily - at 10am and 5pm.

The department spokes-person said it was within the powers of the immigration bureau to ask people to report to them as often as necessary.

One of the protestors, Peter Odion Ugbesia, from Edo state in Nigeria, said their hunger strike would continue until the situation was resolved.

“It’s not easy for someone whose wife may be six hours away in Galway or Cork to travel down to see their wife and come back the same day,” he said. “We want the department to reconsider this decision and let us be with our wives.”

Ms Flynn said they were looking for the whole asylum process to be re-examined. “We think it should be in the hands of a human rights group and not in the hands of politicians, because things like this happen all the time. They make the rules up as they go along.

“And it’s done in such secrecy - even the lawyers didn’t know about it; no one was notified. It is basically house arrest. Are we living in a police state? We want an inquiry into the whole thing.

“Most of these people’s children are Irish citizens. If they are sent away like this - and they have done nothing wrong - an Irish citizen child is being deprived of a parent.”

A rally objecting to a recent mass deportation of Nigerians is planned for Athlone this afternoon.