Post

Capital Square, City of Tulska, Relykstrana
12 June, 2022. 0800, Local Time
It was time to make their voices heard.
Time to take a stand.
The government of Relykstrana had, since the fall of the Communist regime in '53, maintained that their prison system used hard labor only as punishment for the most heinous of crimes. Even after the ascension of the Hosts in 2007, this was the official government line - only those who deserved it ended up there. Murderers. Rapists. Repeat Offenders of the worst sorts.
However.

The TTAF had released overflight photographs of prison camps months ago, and the BBR's Office of Naval Intelligence started work on confirming their existence and the conditions therein. What they discovered was that, contrary to how it was being portrayed by the government, these labor camps were far from "Only" used for prisoners, and that those who had gone to the government looking for work - a key component of Relykstrana's social welfare net being government jobs for those who needed to get back on their feet - were also ending up in camps that looked remarkably similar, being forced to pay for transportation out and then room, board, and tools and equipment at exorbitant rates, leaving them stuck in debt and unable to leave.

In fact even some foreign refugees, looking for resettlement and work as promised by the Relykstranan government's humanitarian efforts, had been shipped off to these camps - nearly seventy thousand from the ongoing Micalandian crisis alone, although that was far from the only country of origin.

Government documents uncovered by the ONI and TESDAIn intelligence services furthermore revealed that it was the intention of the administration of the camps to explicitly make it difficult to leave; their intention was to keep the workforce captive for as long as possible utilizing a legal morass of contracts and hidden fees to keep them there and working for nothing more than the cost of food and housing.

Further information is certain to come to light about the matter, as the Relykstranan government is forced to begin to reveal internal documents and facilities. Already, while crowds gather in front of the Hall of Hosts, the armed forces have been placed on alert and, allegedly, several hundred people have commandeered a freight locomotive and are attempting to make their way to the largest of the refugee camps, at Domodebna.
It remains to be seen whether they shall arrive and, if they do, what they will do once they get there.