GRA Europe Branch condemns Mayor Boris Palmer’s discriminatory remarks over the killing of a Gambian migrant
The Gambia Refugees Association Europe Branch (GRA Europe Branch) has
learnt with shock, the discriminatory and insensitive remarks made by Mayor
Boris Erasmus Palmer of Tübingen City in Baden-Württemberg over the killing
of a 23-year-old Gambian refugee Basiru Jallow, widely known as B-Boy in
Tübingen City.
Basiru Jallow was stabbed to death in Tübingen city by an unidentified individual
last week. Since then, police in Tübingen have started investigations into his death
but full details of the investigations are yet to be known.
However, the GRA Europe Branch has learned with shock, the insensitive
remarks made by Mayor Boris Erasmus Palmer of Tübingen city who wrote on
his Facebook page the following comment: “According to police, the man killed
with a knife was 23-year-old Gambian. The perpetrator is on the loose in the heart
of the city on the bright side of day. The crime scene is right where I took this
picture; it is the site of the open drug scene mostly run by refugees from The
Gambia. I have always urged the police to fight them as hard as possible, but it’s
very difficult for refugees. Petty crime is not enough for deportation. The financial
gain is so great that arrests and a few days in jail have been calculated, and often
the young men have to send the money home. They get sent off for this.”
We strongly condemned such discriminatory remarks by Mayor Boris Palmer and
we urge him to apologize to Gambians immediately. We don’t expect such
remarks to come from an authority in his capacity and it is very disheartening that
he singled out only Gambians as refugees. Official statistics have shown that
many Gambians are employed and paying taxes, while some are going to school.
Besides, a large number of Gambians working in Germany have been recognised
to be hard-working migrants as evident in a number of newspaper publications
where employers appeal to the authorities to give chance to their Gambian
employees to get a residence permit to be able to work in their companies.
The GRA Europe Branch is also calling on the German authorities to condemn
Mayor Boris Palmer’s discriminatory remarks against Gambians as
discrimination is an offence under German Laws.
We hope that the police will speed up their investigation and ensure that the late
Basiru Jallow’s killer faces the full force of the law. We need justice for Basiru
Jallow.
The GRA Europe Branch, therefore, calls on the Government of the Gambia to
engage the German government to ensure justice for Basiru Jallow and to
condemn Mayor Boris Palmer’s remarks.
END…
Signed
………..
Assan Sallah
Chairman
GRA Europe Branch.
