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Update 'content/topic/criminalizationofsolidarity.md'

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@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ has_sessions: mythbusting, collectivememorywritingbycriminalizedactivists, callo
*Keywords:* criminalization, police, state, governmentality, crimmigration, migrants, refugees, Police (cops) violence/coercion
---
When Cédric Herrou was handcuffed and taken to jail by a few police officers, the news worldwide portrayed him as a criminal. One didn't even have to ask why but assumed that helping illegal crossings of migrants from Italy to France was terribly wrong. The mere fact that he helped an *illegal* migrant move justified the ways the repressive apparatus of the state treated him - publicly handcuffed and subjected to further punitive procedures. Accused of smuggling and taken into four-month custody, Herrou was brought to a trial. The trial was turned against Herrou both in the courtroom and publicly as helping the illegal crossings of refugees was strongly condemned. However, a few months later, the principle of *fraternity* enshrined in the French constitution lead to Herrou's [release](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-france-court/french-farmer-who-helped-migrants-showed-fraternity-court-rules-idUSKBN1JW25S), as it conferred the freedom to provide humanitarian assistance and help others regardless whether they were legally or illegally present on the territory.
A recently published report ![Humanitarianism: the unacceptable face of solidarity](bib:fa5fcc36-8599-42e3-bc4f-09e89233ff80) discusses prosecution of more than 40 individuals who dared to assist migrants and refugees in crossing the sea or land borders irregularly. It covers case studies that speak to the rigidity of migration management and regulation of civic disobedience-in-solidarity with migrants and refugees. A recent [case of a war veteran Dragan Umičević](https://www.portalnovosti.com/dragan-umicevic-kazna-meni-je-poruka-drugima) of [Are You Syrious](https://euractiv.jutarnji.hr/en/politics-and-society/migrations/humanitarian-ngos-under-assault-from-radicals-spurned-by-authorities/8078207/), who helped a group of refugees including six children freezing in winter at the Croatian-Serbian border, or [Scott Warren of No more deaths](https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2019/06/07/creeping-criminalisation-humanitarian-aid) in Arizona who helped two undocumented migrants along the US-Mexico border, or a volunteer and Syrian refugee [Sarah Mardini of Emergency Response Centre International](https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2019/05/02/refugee-volunteer-prisoner-sarah-mardini-and-europe-s-hardening-line-migration), who was arrested for her humanitarian work in Moira camp, or a ship captain [Carola Rackete of Sea-Watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-p8_V40Wvk), who docked the migrant rescue ship in the port of Lampedusa without authorization, or a [mayor of Riace Domenico Lucano](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/02/pro-refugee-italian-mayor-arrested-suspicion-aiding-illegal-migration-domenico-lucano-riace), who was arrested under accusation of aiding illegal immigrants - all those events speak strongly of clampdown on solidarity actions with migrants and refugees. These people and their organization, just as numerous others that stay invisible and hidden from public sight, have come under state prosecution instrumentalizing the rigid anti-smuggling legal provisions. Fekete notes that "The emergence of autonomous migrant and refugee solidarity movements and the lengths individuals were prepared to go to help were perceived by states as a threat to their control of borders."