An increasing number of asylum seekers in centres across Denmark have chosen to join a hunger strike in an attempt to gain some influence on their fate

In all, some 60 Iranians and Syrians have joined a hunger strike begun by 18 Syrians some three weeks ago at the Red Cross Centre in Sigerslev.

“They drink, but obviously they have begun to be tired and weak. Two have stopped since they started, but I don’t think the others have envisaged stopping in the near future,” says Helle Jørgensen, head of the Sigerslev Asylum Centre.

“We had a doctor for one of them yesterday evening, but he says that they should eat, as that is the medicine. But they don’t want to. They are tired and despondent,” she says.

Asylum seekers in other centres across the country have joined the strike, bringing the number of Syrians and Iranians refusing food to some 60.

At the Sandholm Camp, a group of 13 Iranians have staged a sit-down in front of the gates and have been on hunger strike for six days. In Jelling, 12 Syrians have sat down in the parking lot and at the Holmegård Centre on Langeland, five joined the hunger strike yesterday.

A further 15 Syrians have been on hunger strike at the Brovst Asylum Centre for over a week.

Common to all of those on hunger strike is that their asylum requests have been rejected, but they are from countries that they cannot be returned to, with several having been in Danish centres for several years.

“I have tried to tell them that hunger striking is not a type of demonstration that we are used to in Denmark, and that the authorities do not succumb to that sort of pressure. Their response is that they might just as well die here as in Syria,” Helle Jørgensen says.

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