ESSEN, GERMANY
Die Anti-Mipim Gruppe Rhein-Ruhr ruft für den 13. Februar zu einer Solidaritätsaktion gegen die Kriminalisierung der Wohnungslosen in Ungarn auf. Die Mahnwache soll um 15:30 Uhr vor dem Sitz des Ungarischen Wirtschaftskonsuls in der Gildehofstr. 1 in Essen starten. Die Gruppe folgt damit den Aufruf der Organisation “Die Stadt ist for alle da” aus Budapest. Im Rahmen des “Europäischen Aktionsbündnisses für das Recht auf Wohnen und die Stadt” wird es vom 13. bis 15.2, auch in anderen europäischen Städten Proteste gegen Kriminaliserung der Krisenopfer in Budapest und anderswo geben.
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Vom 13.-15. Februar 2014 fanden in zahlreichen Ländern von der ungarischen NGO A Város Mindenkié initiierte SolidTaiföldaritätsdemonstrationen gegen die Kriminalisierung von Obdachlosen in Ungarn statt. In Wien traf man sich am 14. Februar vor der ungarischen Botschaft, es gab Musik und Reden von Mitgliedern der BettelLobby Wien, dem neunerHAUS, dem Europäischen Sozialfonds und Die Grünen Wien. Glücklicherweise wurden dabei nicht nur die kriminalisierenden Praktiken im Nachbarland angesprochen, sondern auch die Wiener Kampierverordnung, die sich nur unwesentlich vom kritisierten ungarischen Gesetz unterscheidet. Armut und Obdachlosigkeit sind internationale Probleme, die nicht vor Ländergrenzen halt machen. Es bleibt zu hoffen, dass sich die Wiener Grünen, die ja der Wiener Stadtregierung angehören, intensiv für die Abschaffung der Wiener Kampierverordnung und gegen alle diskriminierenden Gesetze und Praktiken einsetzen werden!
BANGKOK, THAILAND
Forty members of Four Regions Slum Network (FRSN) (including a group of 13 homeless people from FRSN's Homeless Network) held a solidarity demonstration in support of A Varos Mindenkie and the Hungarian homeless today in front of the highrise condominium where the Hungarian Embassy in Bangkok is located from 1:00 to 2:30 pm. The police soon arrived and, in negotiations, FRSN leaders told the police that if they could contact the Hungarian Ambassador and get him to come talk with us, we would be willing to leave. The police eventually agreed, and after a while, two FRSN representatives and an interpreter were invited to go up to the Embassy on the 20th floor of the building to meet with the Counsellor and Consul of the Embassy (the Ambassador himself was not available because he was outside attending a political briefing by the Thai government). In a dialog that lasted about 15 minutes, the Counsellor and Consul said they were very surprised by our demonstration, since it was the first time ever that any group had held such an action in front of their Embassy. They also promised that they would report to the Hungarian government to let it know that we had come to protest against the criminalization of the homeless in Hungary. They claimed that the Hungarian government respected human rights and cared about the homeless and was in the process of building homeless shelters to meet the needs of the homeless, but when we asked for details, they were unable to give any, explaining that we had not given them adequate time to prepare the relevant information. They also claimed that the Hungarian Ambassador and the Embassy welcomed dialog, and that it was not necessary for us to hold a demonstration in front of their Embassy. We said we would keep abreast of the issue and perhaps return to the Embassy again in the future to follow up, if necessary, and left the Counsellor and the Consul with a yellow protest sign that we had held in front of the Embassy reading "Hungarian Ambassador: Tell your government that criminalizing homelessness is illegal!"
LISBON, PORTUGAL
On Thursday 15 persons participated against the criminalization of homeless people in Hungary, between 16:30 and 17:30, in front of the Hungary Embassy. The solidarity action taken place in Lisbon, Portugal was organized by Colectivo Habita and other activists that decided to went to the Hungary Ambassy in order to delivery a letter to be endorse to the Prime Minister and hungary politics, represented in Portugal by the members of the Embassy. We were welcomed by the political advisor of the Embassy that promise us to send the letter, but didn't made any comments about our concerns about the human rights of all the homeless people living actually in the capital, Budapeste.
