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Happy Birthday City Plaza!

On April 22, 2017 we celebrate together one year of solidarity with our CP-family

City Plaza today is everywhere:
In Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Serbia, Sweden … !
It is not just a building, but a home defined by its people. From here solidarity is spread like seeds we carry in our small luggage to continue the struggle for equal rights everywhere we’ll go.

Former residents now living in other countries have collected songs and wishes as a present for City Plazas birthday. Their thoughts were brought together once more in a small booklet. It is dedicated to the ones who are still on their journey, as well as to the ones that are struggling to arrive and the ones who stand with them. It is dedicated also to the ones we lost on this road but who will be in our hearts forever!

We will stand always together and we shall never give up!

OPEN HOUSES! SMASH BORDERS!
FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT FOR ALL!

download the booklet here

Detained refugees and migrants in pre-removal centres in mainland Greece left to survive

The situation in the pre-removal centers in Greece is becoming more and more tragic. While the big NGOs focus on helping refugees in the open camps, about 2,000 other refugees – most of which are asylum seekers – are suffering inhuman conditions in silence as they do not receive sufficient aid and have to endure inhuman and degrading detention conditions. Recent photos from sick persons lacking proper treatment inside the pre-removal center of Corinth are shocking.

Corinth pre-removal detention centre is a 1 ½ hour drive from Athens an has a capacity of 768. While it had been used extensively in the past and was considered by the new SYRIZA-led government in beginning of 2015 as closed for a while, it was “re-opened” in December 2015 with the re-use and transfer of more than 150 Morroccans planned to be deported. On the background of a closing Balkan corridor, the government at that time chose return to all infamous policies of systematic detention starting with the Maghreb nationalities who as a total were not considered to belong to the classical refugee producing nations, but are generally seen as migrants.
Continue reading ‘Detained refugees and migrants in pre-removal centres in mainland Greece left to survive’

No re-instalation of Dublin returns to Greece! Solidarity to all squats!

One year after the closure of the Balkan Route – One year after the EU-Turkey Deal – Six years after the halt of Dublin returns to Greece: 62,000 and more refugees are stuck in limbo in Greece merely able to survive

copyright: noborder

Two days ago, two squats in Athens got attacked and raided by Greek police on March 13, 2017. In one of the squats 127 refugees were hosted. This repressive measure comes one year after the closure of the Balkan Route when more than 57,000 refugees got trapped in Greece and were transferred in provisory tent camps without any assistance, which were set up ad hoc over the night were run in the majority of cases by the army. It is a period where still 23,000-30,000 refugees have no adequate housing but stay under inhuman conditions in state run camps – some of which still are in tents! Among them are hundreds of highly vulnerable people placed at the margins of Greek society without adequate support and any survival perspective on the long run.

On March 13th, the Athens police raided in the early morning hours two squats in the capital one of which in Alkiviadou Street (near Aharnon) was hosting more than 120 refugees since February, who all got apprehended. The other squat which got raided was “Villa Zografou”, an alternative social space and one of the oldest squats in Athens. More then 120 persons were arrested in Alkiviadou Squat and eight persons in Villa Zografou. After one day detention at the Central Aliens Police Departement Petrou Ralli only 31 got transferred to Skaramangas Camp. All the rest of the arrested refugees were left in the middle of the nights on the streets with anywhere to go, while the activists had been released quickly after the apprehension. Many of them are families and people with medical problems from Syria (according to activists there were two people diagnosed with diabetes, one pregnant woman, a man in a wheelchair and one woman who had recently had surgery on her back with severe pain). They finally found emergency housing in other squats and through volunteers. People who were arrested in the squats and who did not have papers, were taken to detention in Amygdaleza pre-removal detention centre where they will stay until their registration. In the meantime more than 1,500 people protested in the evening against the eviction of the two squats. The next day the refugees tried to pick up their belongings from piles outside of the evicted building in Alkiviadou but they were soon stopped by the police and their belongings got thrown in the garbage. Even documents or other important things like medicines got lost this way. The building which was squatted belongs to the Red Cross, which announced that they had planned to open a reception centre for unaccompanied minors there. Continue reading ‘No re-instalation of Dublin returns to Greece! Solidarity to all squats!’

Evacuate the camps, not the squats!

Despite appalling conditions in state-run camps, the government is taking repressive measures against refugee squats where specifically vulnerable persons have found refuge since the closure of the Balkan corridor

copyright: Khora

23,000-30,000 refugees currently still stay under appalling conditions in state-run mass camps in Greece. They live in tents in Moria Hot Spot, in Derveni camp in Northern Greece or Elliniko camp in Athens, in prefabricated houses in Koutsochero (18km out of Larissa City), Malakassa (Attiki) or Skaramangas Dock (Attiki).

Almost the same amount of people – 23,487 refugees – have been transferred mostly over the last months to alternative housing, i.e. in private homes, reception centres, hotels, and in host families co-ordinated and run by NGOs and funded by UNHCR mainly after having suffered in state run camps before.

Meanwhile a total of 13% of refugees in Greece have taken care themselves of their accommodation or found refugee in homes created by solidarity people for them and in refugee squats. 7,850 are estimated by the government to live in self-settled and self-financed private homes or squats out of which about 3,000 are hosted in squats – all run by solidarity and the refugees own resources.

“We tired of ruins and tired of tents. We don’t want to see anymore war, bombs, soldiers and police. We want to live in peace and not fear another loss of home. Because what we found here is home!” – refugee living in City Plaza


copyright: Marios Lolos & Liska Bernet

Declaration of the comittee of the refugees squats

On Monday 13th, early in the morning, the repressive forces of the State invaded the social space of Villa Zografou and arrested eight persons. In the same time the evacuated in a violent way the refugees squat of the Hospital in Alkibiadou street, while arresting around 120 refugees, that they transfered to the Foreigners police station – despite the horror of the tragedy already lived by refugees.
The State, while revealing its true face, goes towards a demonstration of its repression power, as he already did in Thessaloniki during the summer when he invaded the squats.

copyright: Khora

The government forgets, as expected, its leftist past, while applying the classical dogma of “sécurity and order”, following its predecessors road – the road of austerity as well as of repression. And all this play is played on the lives of the people who left their country in order to escape from the barbary and the war with the hope for a better and digner life.
“First time left”, so, and first time that this Ithaca is so full of racism, exclusion and lack of rights. Finally, if this is the Europe of the human rights, why all these people did leave the hell they were living in?

copyright: Khora

We are on the side of the nomad proletariate. For us all this demonstration of strength constitutes a casus belli. The movement, against the State and the government’s repression, will be solidar with the refugees as well as
with any self organisation initiative. Because all these initiatives actually prove that people can and want to live together, without discriminations and prejudices, within antihierarchical structures.
Finally, Toscas, Kaminis and their omoiodeatis should not forget that this kind of repression is linked with the darkest hours of repression, and they should know that when History repeats itself, it is as a joke.

Solidarity is the people’s weapon
Solidarity to the squats vila Zografou and Alkibiadou

Ps1 it would be interesting if the Red Cross that koptetai for the use of the building of Alkibiadou street as a hosting centre for minors, could explain what happened to the 19 yeaes Old syrian Sabri Belhat, who is missing since seven months whereas he was under the institutions custody
Ps2 The State kicked out of Alkibiadou squat 120 refugees, exercizing so its repressive power, kept them for 17 hours at the Foreigners station and then, exercizing its antirefugee duty, left them in Omonoia at midnight.

Coordination of Refugee Squats
Νοταρά 26 / Notara 26
‘Ονειρο / Oniro
City Plaza
Σπύρου Τρικούπη / Spirou Trikoupi
Αραχώβης / Arachovis
Κάννιγος / Kanigos
5ο Λύκειο / 5. School
2ο Φιλοξενείο / 2. Filoksenio
Jasmin school
Υπουργείο Αχαρνών 22 / Ministry Acharnon


copyright: Hibai Arbide AzaVerified @Hibai_

“90€” – A Poem by Ahmed Al-Mouhmad

No food for them save bitter thorn-fruit, which does not nourish nor release from hunger.

The UNHCR has announced on several occasions that it intends to begin distributing money to refugees in Greece. On Monday, officers of the UNHCR informed me that my friends and I would be included in this new scheme. We expect a roll-back in services provided by volunteers, as well as UNHCR as they will say we are now able to ‘support ourselves, as they have provided 90 euros a month per person.’ They have continually treated us badly and left us in inhumane conditions, all we want is to get out of these camps and move on with our lives; to have jobs, education, relationships and a life; everyone reading this knows 90 euros is hardly enough to support yourself for a week in Europe, let alone a month.

“90€”

how to earn ninety euro a month?
sell your humanity
to earn ninety euro
let your human rights be employed
to the highest bidder
they will be sold
your feelings, them too
and in return: ninety euro
yes, you could sell these things
if you had nothing but them
but here, we don’t have the right to choose
we take ninety euro
instead of our humanity
after all, it’s useless
if you’re living life as a refugee
let me tell you how
how to ‘earn’ 90 euros a month
without even working at all:
simply live your life like a sheep
just eat
and sleep
and drink
and wait
then you will take ninety euro
while others store millions in your name
UNHCR, European authorities, European governments that is theirs
simply be a that person who the others call a
refugee
then you will take ninety euros
each and every month
you want to?
simply run away from war
save your life from death
and you will receive ninety euros
simply seek asylum
even better: in one of the European countries
no more, no less
no rights, no love
but, here, have 90 euros
instead
I’m a refugee
I’m in Greece
so now I’m 90 euros better off
each month
but
every day
Europe drops our rights in the ocean
where little baby bodies rot
drowned on the way to your lands
the little ones you all forgot
tell, me, please
what can we buy with 90 euros?
our humanity back
our feelings back
our human rights back
oh, wait: my mistake…
no store that stocks humanity
no shelf with feelings
no aisle of human rights
they were bought from us
with weapons, and oil and all the band things in-between
now you bask in your millions and strip us of our humanity
what you can buy with 90 euros?
let me tell you:
a new T-shirt or
new shoes
that’s it, then the money’s gone; no roof, no food and no life
maybe we can go to a pub
sit on a chair like a normal person
call the waiter:
‘’excuse me, two drinks please,’’
he tells you they are quite expensive
he sees through your eyes
knows your really a refugee
‘’oh, don’t worry, i reply: i just got 90 euros.’’
even now we can invite a partner for a drink
but don’t tell them nothing
case they find out your a refugee
because thats what we’ve learnt from humans
care more for euros
than for life
more for things
than a wife
my suggestion is,
anyone with 90 euros
or even with 9
buy yourself a book
on human rights
read it, cover to cover
don’t leave it on the shelf
out of sight
like me and my friends
I don’t like to take without giving
but my hands are tied
behind my back
breaking under your inhumanity
make a line
make a line
everybody get in line
you earned ninety euros
congratulations
it’s distribution time.

Source: Are you Syrious

AI: Deep concerns over bad conditions in Elliniko Camp

Following a research visit in Elliniko on February 4th, Lia Gogou (researcher for Amnesty International in Greece and Cyprus) expressed her deep concern about the miserable conditions in Elliniko Camp and the lack of alternatives for refugees staying there.

“The refugees are stuck here since one year. Our researcher during their visit last Saturday documented big problems inthe sanitary infrastructure, the lack of fresh air and sufficient toilettes and showers. They saw people sleeping in tents, exposed to the cold and rain. Refugees themselves mentioned they were worried about the quality of the food and the limited access to hot water. Among people interviewed were highly vulnerable persons such as unaccompanied minor boys and single mothers. They said they were not feeling safe in the camp, and they were desperate due to bad living conditions and the lack of alternatives.”

Many Afghan refugees, of whom AI has taken interviews are excluded from the relocation scheme merely by their nationality and from family reunification as their relatives might not belong to the close definition of a family unit. There are many highly vulnerable refugees that should be legally moved with Humanitarian Visas to other EU-states as their survival cannot be secured in Greece.

UPDATE: Hunger strike in the hot spot on Samos Island

https://www.facebook.com/hessam.ghafelpour.9/videos/vb.100014912979849/150456315461467/?type=2&theater

In it’s third day of hunger strike a second protestor had to be transferred to the doctor.

Letter by the last 9 refugees staying in Oraiokastro Camp

Dear Authorities,

We the last remaining nine residents of Oraikastro Refugee Camp are PROTESTING against the moving of us to yet another military camp. We understand you have to close the camp.

But we do not want to be moved to another camp. The camps Veria and Alexandria that you are suggesting is too far away. We have friends and family in Thessaloniki. Some of us have been split up from our siblings as we are not considered to be part of their family. We may not even be relocated to the same country as them. We may not get the opportunity to see them for many years. Please don’t rob us of this last opportunity to stay near our friends and family before relocation.

We stayed in Idomeni camp and now Oraikastro in very poor inhumane conditions. We don’t want to move to another camp and be unsettled again. No matter how good the other camps may be, camp conditions are not good for us. It takes time to become used to a new camp and every move has always led to new problems. None of these camps are suitable for human beings to live in.

Some of us have also had our second interviews and we were promised to be moved into an apartment or hotel after the second interview.

Today the families were moved to a hotel. We understand that families with children should be priority and we are happy they will be living in better conditions now. BUT WHAT ABOUT US??

We simply asked for our right to stay in a better condition also and we were refused. Unfortunately one of the ministry professionals who attended today was rude to us. We are sorry that some of us shouted and became angry. We are sorry that one of us pushed a member of staff over. We have suffered a lot in our countries that sometimes we can’t control our emotions. We are sorry if we disrespected or hurt anyone. WE ARE SORRY.

We fled war. Our family members and loved ones died. We are split up from our families. We lost homes, our education and our dignity. We are traumatised and although we may seem like strong young men some of us are vulnerable too. WHAT ABOUT US??

We have been told that if we don’t move then the Greek ministry will send police to evacuate us by force. We know what that means and we have seen it before. THEY WILL HURT US.

We the last nine remaining residents of Oraikastro Refugee Camp are appealing to UNHCR and Norwegian Refugee Council to please help us. We don’t want to fight and we don’t want them to force and hurt us either.
We promise to be calm and we promise to peacefully protest but we don’t want to move to another camp.

Norwegian Refugee Council and UNHCR please give us back our dignity and keep us safe from the harsh nature of the military police who maybe coming for us. Please protect us. Give us our right to at least a standard living condition. There is nine people left and we request three rooms for nine of us to share. That is all.

Abdo Alrajab, Raed Anbtawy, Mustafa Aldeider, Shas Alkasem, Basel Yatakan, Abdelilah Alhamoud, Loay Ammar, Mahamoud Bayer AND Belal Mustafa

Hunger Strike in Elliniko Camp

On 5th February 2017, most of the adults among the 711 refugees residing in a state-run Camp in the former Athens National Airport (Camp Elliniko II), in the majority coming from Afghanistan, started a hunger strike to protest against their degrading living conditions demanding for their transfer to homes, papers and freedom of movement for all. As reported by one of the refugees, it is very likely that residents of the two other camps in Elliniko (the nearby Olympic baseball and a hockey stadiums) might join in the protest tomorrow.

Hunger strike starts in Elliniko Camp

Among the 1,600 refugees living in the three camps of Elliniko there are some who are there already since one year. Elliniko Camp was opened already back in autoumn 2015, in a period where thousands were arriving to Greece and many stayed homeless in the parks and squares of Athens. Planned as a temporary solution to ‘clear’ the capitals’ streets from the many homeless and repeatedly announced to be closed as belonging to one of the most infamous camps in Greece, it still stayed open until today, but always portrayed as ‘provisory’ under the UNHCR-category ‘informal site’.
Continue reading ‘Hunger Strike in Elliniko Camp’

Refugees on hunger strike

In Samos hot spot and corinth pre-removal detention center refugees are protesting devastating living conditions and lacking access to asylum procedures as well as long waiting periods.

copyright: Hessam Ghafelpour

On 31st January refugee from Iran and Afghanistan in the hot spot in Samos started a hunger strike protesting against the long lasting asylum procedures, inhuman detention conditions and the restriction of their freedom. On the second day, one of the strikers

watch the strike here

copyright: Generation outside of Afghanistan

Yesterday detained refugees in Corinth pre-removal detention centre denied to eat lunch and dinner in protest against the bad detention conditions and lack of access to the asylum procedure. According to refugees, some of the detainees have been more than six months in detention. They suffer from bad food and the lack of warm water amongst others. Mainly people from Pakistan and Algeria are detained in Corinth these days. The refugees on hunger strike demand first of all their freedom.

interview from Corinth
https://soundcloud.com/efsyn-gr/keerfakorinthos