Raid on waste collection depots: 200 people detained

* Photo: Umut (Hope) Union

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In a raid on the waste collection depots and yards in İstanbul's Ataşehir, nearly 200 people have been taken into custody.

The Umut (Hope) Union has announced the detention of waste paper pickers on its social media account: "In a midnight raid in Ataşehir, nearly 200 waste paper workers have been detained! Our fellow migrants have been taken to the Migrant Assembly Center to be deported. The booths of the workers have been burned and their handcarts have been seized."

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the police and municipal police teams carried out simultaneous raids on the houses and paper collection yards of waste paper pickers. Nearly 200 waste pickers have been detained in raids on 49 different addresses. The materials found in the waste collection depots have been seized during these raids.

Ataşehir’de yüzlerce polisle atık kağıt işçilerin depolarına baskın yapılıyor.

Atık kağıt işçilerine dönük saldırılar planlı şekilde yapılmaya devam ediliyor. Atık kağıt işçileriyle dayanışmayı büyütelim, saldırıları bertaraf edelim! #ÇekçeğimeDokunma pic.twitter.com/8gXAP1xWxa

— UMUT-SEN (@Umut_Sendikasi) October 5, 2021

The workers held a press statement yesterday (October 5). Speaking in Ataşehir, the workers demanded the release of their detained friends. However, while the statement was still ongoing, it was reported in the press that three workers were arrested and sent to Maltepe Prison.

In their statement about the issue, the workers said that "in the raids on the depots in Esenkent on October 4, 2021, the waster pickers were aggrieved again." The workers recalled that "the previous statements of the İstanbul Governor's Office accused the waste pickers of jeopardizing environmental and public health, causing unregistered employment in unhealthy conditions, leading to public loss and unearned gain, causing a security problem and employing unregistered migrant workers."

"We see that the language has changed in the press statement made by the Governor's Office following yesterday's raids," said the workers, noting that this recent statement "indicated that the aim of the inspections was to ensure compliance with the provisions of the legal regulations."

They raised concerns that "as if it had been a criminal matter, the Governor's Office was making statements about the issue."

"As for the other interlocutors of the problem, they have relapsed into utter silence," they protested, asking, "Are these decisions of raid taken by the Governor's Office or have the municipalities approved them? Wasn't it the Mayor of Üsküdar himself who pointed at the Kadosan area for the pickers? Didn't he himself want the paper depots to be moved to Kadosan? Why is he still silent while the Governor's Office intervenes in this area?"

Noting that "political parties and municipalities know very well that these operations targeting paper pickers means disregarding the poor's right to life," they said that "if they think that they can save themselves by passing the buck to the governor's office, they are wrong."

Recalling that the municipalities and political party representatives express their unease at the practices of the governor's office, the waste pickers also criticized that the related legal regulations have changed 17 times since 2014, as far as they have been able to count.

"The ones who introduce the regulations don't know what they want. What regulations are you talking about," they asked.

"You may make press statements and try to convince people that the raids are aimed at public good. These people see what is for the good of the public and what is for the good of the capital," they noted. (EMK/SD)