Caltanissetta


The Camp At Pian Del Lago, Caltanissetta: A Non-Place Of Desperation, 7th July 2017
Living conditions are increasingly worse for the migrants living at the informal camp at Pian del Lago. After the last police eviction (26 May 2017) they have been forced to set up their tents in the remaining spaces between the big holes in the earth left by the diggers from Caltambiente. The attempt is of course the continual reconstruction of the tent city, only in a still more difficult situation, one which was already tragic. Read more...

Making Money Is The Only Goal. Murder Is Simply Collateral Damage, 3rd May 2017
The member states of Europe are spearheading a campaign to criminalise the NGOs saving lives at sea. The reason is that these organisations do not share the political line of a European community which manufactures massacres year after year, one which has turned the Mediterranean into an unprecedented mass grave. And more than this, the NGOs are not connected financially to European orders, given that many would not touch Europe's dirty money with a barge pole. Read more...

After the Latest Eviction: An Update on the Camp at Pian del Lago, 14th April 2017
In mid-March the police yet again evicted the camp at Pian del Lago (Caltanissetta). All this achieved was the temporary removal of some of those who had found a precarious sanctuary under the motorway overpass. After the police operation had been carried out at dawn, some of the migrants were taken in by the reception centre at Caltanissetta, while many others – not having anywhere else to go – had no option but to reconstruct the camp-site the very same night. Read more...




Caltanissetta. After the Eviction, the Shanty Town Returns. Shacks Without Water: The Asylum Seekers Speak Out, 29th March 2017
From MeridioNews.it
Six days ago the police guaranteed a relocation process, one which nonetheless only took place for some. The others came back to live under the bridge, near to the migrant reception centre at Pian del Lago. They brought water bottles in shopping trolleys from a supermarket, and looked for wood to burn to warm themselves up. Read more...


Ph. MeridioNews.it


Visit to the Camp at Pian del Lago, 2nd February 2017In January we visited the camp at Pian del Lago, in Caltanissetta, twice, along with staff from Oxfam as part of the OpenEurope project. The eviction of the encampment a few days before Christmas filled the pages of the daily newspapers, but had no effect at all on the migrants' lives: they were living on the street before, and they lived on the street immediately afterwards. As soon as the police had left the sit, in fact, a dozen people moved in under the motorway columns, rebuilding their makeshift homes our of beat up tents and plastic boxes and sheets, the only means they have to deal with one of the coldest winters in years. Read more...

Press release: A Country's Humanity Can Be Seen in the Smallest of Things. But Also the Big Ones. 1st October 2016
It seems that the postal workers, when collaborating with the Ministry of the Interior in relation to the “envelope” containing news of foreign nationals' leave to remain, see themselves as sheriffs. The directors of the local post office branches, again in virtue of this agreement, see themselves in turn as members of the government, with delegated powers relating to immigration. Read more...


Visit to “Villa Sergio” in Caltanissetta, 23rd February, 2016
Villa Sergio is one of the communities managed by the association “Casa Rosetta” that groups together several reception projects with different target groups: therapeutic communities, housing for disabled people and unaccompanied minors, residences for people affected by HIV.
Any of these reception homes works according to its own modus operandi and is characterized by the peculiarities of the projects themselves, as well as by the professionalism and preparation of the staff, and by the beneficiaries who live there.
Villa Sergio – its name referring to the name of its first resident – is a facility that has been officially registered with the National Health Service and hosts people affected by HIV.
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Alagie’s story, one out of many rejected minors, 1st of February 2016
At the beginning of January, the immigration office of Caltanissetta informed us about the case of a foreign and unaccompanied minor who, after having received a decree of removal, left Sicily and was living in the streets. Read more...

Caltanissetta: a visit in the refugee camp, 25th of January 2016
It is the third winter in a row in which we are monitoring the refugees encamped around the governmental centre of Pian del Lago in Caltanissetta. Our last visit here dates back to October. The living conditions become harder during winter season for those who have to live in the streets for several weeks, before being granted access to the procedures of obtaining international protection. Read more...

A young asylum seeker dies after being run over on the highway of Pian del Lago, Wednesday, 6 May 2015
The young men run over on the highway of the hamlet Pian del Lago last April 10 (Il Fatto Nisseno), did not survive. He died last April 20, on the intensive care unit at the hospital of Saint Elia of Caltanissetta. We were able to obtain this news through informal channels only 10 days later. No official institution spread the news. Neither the police department nor the prefecture communicated the death of an asylum seeker who died because of a run over on the highway that connects the government reception centre and the immigration office of the police department with the urban centre of Caltanissetta.

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Elderly Asylum Seekers kept waiting outside CARA Pian del Lago for 24 hours,

20 April 2015

Last Wednesday we published the relative information regarding the transfer of 60 migrants, who had arrived in Palermo on the 14th of April, and were transferred that very morning to the CARA* of Pian del Lago. The centre was suddenly able to provide dozens of places, even though there was a list of Asylum Seekers that had been waiting for a place for weeks.

In particular, we told about the situation of an elderly couple who, along with their sons, were waiting for a week to be accepted and, after being summoned by the Police Headquarters for an appointment at 3 pm. were still waiting at the entrance at 8 pm. read more...

How the denial of rights develops into illegality and abuse of power, 23rd February 2015
Last week four asylum seekers housed at the reception centre at Pian del Lago were reported by the Financial Guard, who caught them selling cigarettes distributed in the centre, at the nearby market place. This is not a new phenomenon in the city and a proper analysis of the dynamics which have led to this situation helps to better understand this incident and to see that there other people responsible for the situation. read more...
 

A week of protests in the Province of Caltanissetta, 20th January 2015 
It has been a week of intense protests in several reception centres in the province of Caltanissetta. On January 13, about fifty residents of the CAS* which is located inside the Public Institute for Assistance and Charity of Pagano (where about 150 asylum seekers are living at the moment) protested against the intolerably long waiting time for being convoked by the local commission for the recognition of international protection. In order to gain visibility for their protests and for obtaining an answer, they put their mattresses outside the centre and began a hunger strike. The asylum seekers in question are of Pakistani origins who arrived at the centre last March – it has been since then that they are waiting for the convening of the hearing by the local commission. read more...
 

Activation of self-management at Pian del lago, 27th November 2012 
The immigrants are getting organised inorder to alleviate the long waiting times in front of the Office for Foreigners, which has been transferred to within the Centre.
From Corriereimmigrazione.it - the site of the three-in-one Centre of Pian del Lago (which includes an Immigrant Detention Centre (CIE), a Reception Centre (CDA) and a Hosting Centre for Asylum Seekers(CARA)) is so perfectly suited to that of a ghetto. It is at least an hour's walk away from the nearest inhabited centre and any commercial activities. In the last couple of years even the Immigration Offices usually found in the Police Headquarters have been transferred to the Centre. This has caused many problems especially for the foreigners who have been granted the right to stay in Italy as the entrance to the building gets completely blocked on the days when the Office is open. In the handling of the various procedures to renew permits of stay, issue the numerous types of documentation and the many other types of paperwork that are required, the migrants must go back and forth to the nearest town in order to pay the necessary stamp duty and get photographs done etc. And this is obviously the case regardless of the scorching sun in summer and the cold winter rains. read more...


Migrants escape from the Caltanisetta Detention Centre- "the situation is unsustainable", 25th September 2012
Blog Sicilia- 10 immigrants attempted to escape from the Pian del Lago Detention Centre in Caltanisetta. The incident occurred when the immigrants initiated a riot to protest against the living conditions within the Centre.
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LASCIATEcieNTRARE- MIGRANTS SLEEPING IN FRONT OF THE CARA (HOSTING CENTRE FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS), 27th April 2012, Caltanissetta
We arrive around 15:30 and meet about 25 refugees in front of the gates of Pian del Lago, Caltanissetta's poli- functional Centre: CIE -an Immigration Detention Centre which since the end of March has reopened with 96 places, CARA (Hosting Centre for Asylum Seekers) and CDA (Reception Centre) which together have 450 places- the management tells us there are currently 442 people staying there....We can speak to those who are outside, then they let us into the CARA as representatives of ASGI, Lo Sportello per Immigrati di Caltanissetta and Borderline Sicilia/ Borderline Europe.

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"LASCIATEcieNTRARE"- FULL SUPPORT FOR A EUROPEAN CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE CIES (IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTRES), Tuesday 17th April 2012


In front of the gates of the Pial del Lago CIE/CDA (Reception Centre)/CARA (Hosting Centre for Asylum Seekers) (Caltanissetta)
Friday 27th April
From 3pm to 7pm
Sportello per Immigrati,Via Re d’Italia 14, Caltanissetta.- Forum Antirazzista di Palermo -ASGI (Associazione Studi Giuridici sull’Immigrazione)-Borderline Sicilia Onlus
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