Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

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Video / AI: Greek fisherman saves people from drowning

Published on July 18, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , .

“Why should a person drown?”

Giorgos Mavripidis, a fisherman from Skala Sikamias, saved a family from drowning as they were trying to reach the shores of Lesvos in October 2009. Eight other lives were lost that day.

“There’s no doubt many people are going to drown again this year”, he says. “Because here the storms are wild and the currents are strong.”

It was a regular morning for Giorgos Mavripidis. He was on his boat throwing his fishing nets when a speedboat loaded with people was capsized by the waves. Giorgos left his nets and rushed to help.
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Attack on migrants’ house in Tavros

Published on July 15, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , .

“Fascist attack on an immigrant house in Tauros by Golden Dawn thugs”, is decried by the movement ‘United Against Racism and the Fascist threat’ (KEERFA).

The communication reports:

“The attack took place on Friday night when 6 fascists broke into a migrants’ residence by breaking the window. In the beginning they pretended to be policemen and they asked for ‘papers’, but when the immigrants asked for a police patrol car to assist they started abusing and beating them, telling them they are Golden Dawn members.

After beating them, they stole work-related paperwork, some small electric appliances as well as a small amount of money. All this, with the neighbors looking stunned. When the immigrants recognized two of their attackers then they all rushed away.

We call the collectives, the unions and the local actors to denounce the racist crimes against immigrant workers.

We denounce the racist deeds of the thugs and murderers of Golden Dawn who try to terrorize the workers movement. KEERFA together with the neighborhood will respond with collective mobilization so that we will be able to isolate the murderous tactics of fascist groupings.

source: enet (in greek)
translated by:
i can’t relax in greece (in english)

Detained migrant commits suicide in Kozani

Published on July 13, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

A young migrant from Pakistan commit suicide in the toilettes of the detention cells. He had been arrested for illegal entry to Greece.

tvxs (in greek)

AI: Frontier Europe (new report on push-backs and arbitrary detention)

Published on July 9, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , .

The Greek government is trying to seal its borders not only through increased surveillance and the construction of a fence; but research by Amnesty International shows that those who do arrive are sometimes pushed straight back to Turkey. Those returned to Turkey under such circumstances are denied the chance to apply for asylum in Greece or explain whether they have other needs, in flagrant violation of international law.
Amnesty International’s research also shows that the way in which such push-back operations are carried out by the Greek border guard or coastguard is putting lives at risk. Several of those interviewed by Amnesty International claimed they were abandoned in the middle of the sea on unseaworthy vessels or left on the Turkish side of the land border with tied hands. …

Read the Report (in English)

new arrivals in the aegean (17.6.-30.6)

Published on June 30, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Lesvos
28.06.: 21 (13 men, 2 women and 6 minors)
24.06: 42 (30 men, 7 women and 7 minors)
23.6: 33 (23 men, 3 women, 7 minors)
17.6.: 22 (18 men, 3 women, 1 minor)

Samos
28.06: 30
22.06: 38
21.6.: 43
19.6.: 44
17.6.: 48 (36 men, 8 women and 4 minors)

Farmakonisi
19.6.: 18

hellenic coast guard

Detention conditions in Greece inhuman and life-threatening – IOM enforces “voluntary return”

Published on June 26, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

In Lesvos island dozens of refugees are detained in the port being exposed to the burning sun while lacking water and food supply. Among them are children and even a 2-month-old baby. +++ In Amigdaleza detention conditions have even worsened since November 2012, said Rebecca Harms from the Green Party after a second visit in June 2013. +++ Meanwhile a young migrant (20-year-old) from Cote d’Ivoire committed suicide in Grevena police station because he didn’t want to be deported to his country.

Meanwhile, KEERFA (ΚΕΕΡΦΑ), the Movement “United against racism and the fascist threat” denounces that Greek authorities and IOM use “Gestapo like torture methods” to force refugees and migrants detained in Amigdaleza to “voluntarily” return.

First they are detained for many months without knowing when they might be released, then they are being pulled by force to the airport. A woman employee from IOM escorts them who threatens that if they don’t accept to sign the voluntary return they will wear them head covering masks and bring them by force to the airport. IOM employees enter detention centers to collect signatures for voluntary return in co-operation with some embassies such as the one from Pakistan.
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159 migrants in distress at sea saved near Calabria

Published on June 16, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Yesterday the 159 migrants from Afghanistan, Syria and Egypt had started from turkey some days earlier heading towards italy when their ship got at distress at sea close to the Calabrian coast. Among them were 8 children, one newborn and four women. Four migrants had to be transferred to hospital.

proto thema (in greek)

June 10th: 44 new arrivals on Samos island; releases and police raid on Lesvos

Published on June 11, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , .

Yesterday, the police release more than 70 of the migrants and refugees who had recently arrived on the island and who were detained under inhuman conditions inside the port area for a few days. Some of them had been already transferred to different police stations on the island for further detention. The release was a consequence of further arrests on the island and overcrowded cells. Families from Afghanistan, Syria and men and women from Somalia took the ship to Athens.

Meanwhile another 44 refugees arrived yesterday on Samos island. The detention centre on Samos has a capacity of 300.

Hellenic Coast Guard

Another 58 refugees arrive in the Aegean

Published on June 9, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Lesvos: 10
hellenic coast guard

Agathonisi: 27 (17 men, 6 women and 4 minors)

hellenic coast guard

Leros: 21 (18 men, 1 woman and 2 minors)
hellenic coast guard

The tortured activist whose fate tells Turkish protesters: don’t seek refuge in Greece

Published on June 8, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Bulut Yayla, a Turkish archaeology student and left-wing activist, says he travelled to Greece in April this year to escape imprisonment and torture he endured under the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Once in Athens he tried to seek asylum as a political refugee to escape an international arrest warrant issued against him after being accused of having links with an outlawed Marxist organisation.

On 30 May, Bulut, 26, left the restaurant where he worked, in the central Athens neighbourhood of Exarhia, to meet some friends He never made it. At around 9pm, witnesses say they saw five men beating him near the restaurant, forcing him into a car and driving off. Two days later, his family got a call from Turkish authorities, informing them he was in their custody, in a high-security prison. The head of Greek police later confirmed the car’s licence plates showed it was a police vehicle.

“He was seized, handcuffed and shoved by force in a car where they closed his eyes, nose and mouth, and tortured him,”

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