Hannover's peace camp

Shortly after writing about my first protest and the campus peace camp of my college years, I noticed that Hannover has a peace camp of its own. On Weißkreuzplatz, at the end of the swanky Lister Meile shopping street, several big tents are standing in the mud. I saw some banners flying and the sign "Refugee Protest Hannover". Did Hannover have its own refugee camp? Right in the nice part of town?

So I decided to go back, take my camera, and talk with the people at the camp to find out why they were there.

This is a good example of why you should not hire me as an investigative journalist.
As bold as I may try to sound in my blog posts, I'm a little shy when it comes to knocking on a tent flap. I walked around the camp and took some photos, but I didn't see anybody. No one was making food, or walking to the portable toilet, or talking in the makeshift meeting room tent. It was cold outside so people were probably in their tents. Maybe they were sleeping. I didn't know and I was hesitant to invade whatever privacy they might have, camping outside along a busy street.
Ok, I guess I was a little shy.

Paragraph 23 (on the signs) is the regulation the protesters want to change

But when I got home, with nothing to show for my trip but a few photos, I found the Refugee Protest Camp Hannover website. They may have no legal status and no solid walls, but they have a website and a blog and a bank account.

The people in the camp are from Sudan, but they are not refugees. The state of Niedersachsen (Hannover is its capital), decides which countries are unstable enough that their people cannot safely  return. Sudan is not on that list, so Niedersachsen does not grant refugee status to the Sudanese. The camp is meant to draw attention to that issue, and get Niedersachsen to amend its laws. That would give the Sudanese in Hannover legal status and a right to work.

Not everyone who shows up at the protest camp just wants to say hello. One night in December, two tents were burned to the ground. I'm sure the city is not happy that the camp is there either, but it has been allowed to remain, ever since May 2014.

As I did a little more internet research, I saw an announcement that the Refugee Protest Camp Hannover was giving a presentation today in Berlin. Maybe nobody was home in those tents after all.  I do plan to go back, maybe with some snacks for the protesters. I have more questions, like are Sudanese considered refugees in other states in Germany? Has anyone been granted asylum? How come they are allowed to protest and is anyone going to be deported? And who do they think started the fire?

I'll be sure to let you know what I find out, once I get up my nerve to knock on the tent flap and ask.