23 April 2025, 6pm to 8pm.
Join our solidarity rally for Fatou and everyone affected by detention and deportation! Register at the bottom of this page.
Who is Fatou?
Fatou, our friend, has spent 18 years in the UK. She was taken into immigration detention a few weeks ago, after her routine visit to the reporting centre in Liverpool.
From there, she was taken to Manchester holding facility, before being transferred to Derwentside immigration detention centre in Durham, more than 160 miles away from her home.
From the moment we learned that she was detained, her family, friends and community rallied around to secure her release and safety.
Our These Walls Must Fall Organiser, Maggy Moyo, has summarised numerous acts of solidarity for Fatou that have been organised over the last few weeks.
What happened over the weekend?
As soon as we learned that Fatou was en route to Derwentside, we got in touch with our friends at No To Hassockfield Group. Since These Walls Must Fall co-organised a national demonstration to shut down Derwentside Detention Side last year with them, we have been working closely together.
No To Hassockfield Group were able to look out for Fatou, got her a jacket so that she could keep herself warm. Fatou has a health condition which she has found difficult to manage in immigration detention.
On Saturday 19 April, No To Hassockfield Group staged #FreeFatou solidarity action outside the detention centre, while more and more people signed the petition to demanding that Fatou’s deportation is stopped.
Fatou was due to be removed from Derwentside (DWC) yesterday (Monday 21 April), but thanks to the incredible efforts of our friends at the No to Hassockfield team who physically stopped the van from leaving, and to all our friends and community who took action by signing, sharing, and calling the airline, she was not moved.
A big thank you also to Col (Resist Deportations and Patients Not Passports), as well as our friends at Merseyside Solidarity Knows No Borders, Mallika at Migrant’s Organise, and Simon from Care4Calais. Your support and solidarity has made a real difference.
However, we are not safe yet.
What you can do right now:
- Keep sharing the petition.
- Join us tomorrow evening at 18:00 for an emergency online Solidarity Meeting – We’ll hear powerful reflections from those on the frontlines of the fight against detention, as well as from Fatou’s close family members, who recently visited her in the detention centre. They will speak to the emotional toll this has taken and how her detention has deeply impacted their family.
What this solidarity rally is about
At the rally, we honour Fatou’s courage and humanity. We honour her fighting spirit and compassion for others who are also held in immigration detention.
The rally will be led by These Walls Must Fall and Migrants Organise, joined by people and groups who are fortunate enough to know Fatou and are fighting for her release from detention and safety in the UK.
Together we will keep organising for freedom, dignity and justice – for Fatou, and for all people subjected to the violence of the immigration system while simply trying to build a life here.
Fatou’s message to us from the detention centre
Fatou has asked us to share that she deeply appreciates all your solidarity. She said:
“This fight is not just about me. It’s about the other women I’ve met here. Women who have told me horrible, unbelievable stories, about why they are here, how long they’ve been detained, and the visible, severe mental health breakdowns they are experiencing.”
Please join the rally to stand with Fatou and stand with us. Together we are stronger. Together we build a world that protects all of us.
Migration is life.
No one is illegal.
These walls must fall.
In solidarity,
Right to Remain
Discussion: