Tag Archive for 'sans-papiers'

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Frontex heavily criticised by Human Rights Watch for their involvement in Evros – and PR response by Frontex

Published on September 21, 2011 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , .

Human Rights Watch published today, on the 21st of September 2011 a report about the Frontex operation in Evros underlining the international responsibility on the human rights violations against sans-papiers and asylum seekers in the detention centres of the region.

paranoiex securitex frontex


The EUs dirty hands
The EUs Dirty Hands: Frontex Involvement in Ill-Treatment of Migrant Detainees in Greece

Frontex reacted immediately with a press release:

FRONTEX’S REACTION TO HRW REPORT
Warsaw, 21 September 2011 – Frontex welcomes the revised report of HRW and is satisfied to note that its comments on the original draft were taken on board. The report now highlights an issue, which we agree, is of great importance.

A Frontexian in Evros


We would like to recall that Frontex fully respects and strives for promoting Fundamental Rights in its border control operations which, however, do not include organization of, and responsibility for, detention on the territory of the Member States, which remains their exclusive remit.
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racist attacks in athens continue

Published on September 18, 2011 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

In the recent days repeated racist attacks take place in various neighbourhoods of Athens.

Yesterday, 17th of September the court case against

Friday night (September 16), 2 Afghan immigrants were attacked outside their home. When they saw a group of thugs approaching, scared they tried to run away but did not manage to escape. The gangs attacked them leaving one stabbed! The victim suffered two wounds, one next to the heart and another one just below. One person was arrested but the rest of the fascist gangs escaped and continued their attacks at St. Panteleimonas square beating up another Afghan. The arrested facist was brought to the court on Saturday 17th of September. The court was postponed for three days.
indymedia
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Letter of prisoners in Fylakio

Published on September 13, 2011 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , .

We prisoners in Filakio need your help from the outside. We do not have access to other cells, we don’t get fresh air, the water is dirty, food is just enough to survive, we cannot go outside.

When someone is sick, we cannot reach the doctor for help. Again and again, people fall sick since the toilets are dirty. We want to leave this prison. The police is beating us again and again, on our hands, on our feet, they insult us endlessly. Nobody answers our question to what our future will be. There are even people that have gone crazy, and still we cannot leave. We are a lot of people, with different nationalities, in one cell.
We have not committed any crime, and we have not chosen this fate.
We have fled war, oppression and poverty to reach European democratic countries.

Somebody tell us what is awaiting us, what will happen to us.

We prisons from Filakio, we are thankful that people are listening to us now.

Recently one of the prisoners went on hungerstrike. He fainted after 12 days of hungerstrike. After two days in hospital he was brought back to the prison cell. Nobody took note of his protest.

Press Release by the open Plenum in Orestiada against the repression in detention (in Greek)

See also: http://infomobile.w2eu.net/2011/09/12/situation-in-fylakio-in-september-2011/

Fire in refugees’ home in patras

Published on September 12, 2011 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Around the 8th of September unknown people set fire on a barack where asylum seekers were temporarily living in the transit-port of Patras.

As A., an Eritrean refugee reported:

I have been homeless in Athens. I have been homeless in Patras. I have been homeless in Igoumenitsa. I applied for asylum. Now I am again homeless in Patras. I live on the beach and in ruins. Police is hunting us every day.
A few days ago somebody lit fire on the ruin we were living in. I think it was the racists. Everything burned. All our belongings. My AFM (tax number), my work permit, my clothes. Everything. I am left now only with my Pink Card (asylum seekers temporary residence permit) but what is it worth? What can it do for me? I am still homeless and unprotected.

Transit in Patras


Following a number of police raids in the last months, currently, there are very few sans-papiers and asylum seekers left in Patras. The ones who have remained suffer, as K. from Somalia tells us:

“I only stay here because I don’t have any other place to go! There is no chance to leave from here for Italy. Very very few manage. The new port is very dangerous. Police is hunting and beating us, they even have dogs. My Pink Card got tear up by my former employer who didn’t want to pay me for the work I did. Now it is almost one month that I am only with a copy of my Pink Card. They say, I cannot get a new one if I don’t have an address in Patras, but where should I get it from? Two days ago a police control arrested me. I asked them to go and catch the copy of my Pink Card, but they didn’t let me go. I was in prison for two days. I am understanding more and more about this country. Nothing good to tell!”

64 sans-papiers deported by Italy back to Patras, 9th of September

Published on September 8, 2011 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

As reported by local newspapers for the second time within the last year Italy is deporting sans-papiers by ship back to Greece. 64 sans-papiers are at this moment detained inside the ferryboat Ioanian Queen and guarded by 50 Carabinieris. They will arrive tomorrow morning in Patras. The deportation is reported to be based on the Dublin II regulation, but it remains unclear if there was any other legal ground on which this deportation was decided. While most European countries have stopped deporting sans-papiers back to Greece due to the European wide recognition of the ongoing human rights violations and degrading living conditions, Italy obviously continues. Italy itself is together with Hungary has been after Greece criticised more and more and became the next candidates for a struggle to stop Dublin II deportations back there.

local news in Greek

I came here to Greece in order to save my life, now, they took even my body away from me

Published on September 4, 2011 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Patras, August 2011

Two refugees from Sudan talk about their lives in an emptied city. Patra has been the second exit-port after Igoumenitsa that the greek police raided in 2011. In the center of the city one cannot see any immigrants anymore. In repeated sweep operations the authorities destroyed a number of provisory housing sites and arrested hundreds of sans-papiers. In the summer of 2011 only very few refugees remained at the rims of the city marginalised and displaced.

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After the eviction of the mountain settlement in Igoumenitsa now refugees are threatened by police raids in Patras

Published on August 21, 2011 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

Following the huge eviction of the jungles of Igoumenitsa at the 9th of June, Patras became the second war region in the governments cruel fight against the sans-papiers who are trying to leave the country. The government seems to set a clear sign that the ports of exit towards Italy are now a no-go for refugees and migrants. Will the Apartheid ruling Igoumenitsa come to Patras now? It seems so.

We have no place to stay anymore. We have to sleep at the seaside under the sky. The police is coming everyday to hunt us in order that we leave Patras. We have been hunted in Komunisia before. We have been hunted at the border,in Athens, at work… One by one we get crazy now. Some of us try to leave Greece back to Turkey. But they don´t let us go there too. They hunt us again and again. Now one of my friends got lost in Evros while he was trying to cross the river in the direction of Turkey. We believe he died. In one or two days we will be all crazy!

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Dublin-Deaths between Kerkyra/Greece and Bari/Italy (15th of January 2011)

Published on July 28, 2011 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , .

The following testimony of Amin Fedaii, a 16-year-old afghan refugee, is alarming. More than 20 refugees (mainly from Afghanistan) died while trying to flee from Greece and to reach their relatives and friends in other European countries.

I felt very queasy, I was in the bottom of the ship and tried to sleep. I was not really sleeping I was so afraid. I was drifting away.


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“We were persecuted in our home countries, now we are persecuted here!” – Interview

Published on June 1, 2011 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Interview with the refugee N., from Eritrea
23rd of May 2011, Komunisia
by infomobile

N. spent a very long time in the mountains of Igoumenitsa. With 10 months he belongs to the experienced men on the mountain. He has been deported from Italy several times. Still he never lost his hope that one day he will get out.

The truck to the other Europe

“I promise to see you in a better place,” N. says and his eyes are full of energy.

How long are you in Igoumenitsa?

In Komunisia here? I have longer than ten months. More than ten months here!

What did you expect from coming here to Igoumenitsa?

You know, the reason for my coming to Komunisia, I am suffering too much bad in this country. I need to leave this country. For this reason I came to Komunisia. Unfortunately, during these days we are suffering from a very bad situation: from the police and from the racist people, from the civil society here in Komunisia.

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“You always wish it’s your last day here in Komunisia.” – interview

Published on June 1, 2011 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Interview with the two refugees A. and Y., from Sudan
21st of May 2011, Komunisia
by Infomobile

A. and Y., refugees from Sudan talk about their living-conditions in Igoumenitsa, the second largest port from Greece towards Italy. We are sitting in the mountain, looking at the port-area of “Komunisia” how the refugees call it. A few hundred refugees from all war-zones of the world are living on this mountain. Some days ago, at the 3rd of May, the refugees’ settlements in the mountain have been attacked by fascists out of a demonstration.

Waiting room Komunisia: One minute feels like one year on this mountain

Afterwards the police drew an invisible ‘red line’ and prevented refugees from entering the city. More than 450 refugees have been arrested in May 2011 – double than the average monthly arrests of 2010. Police guards the garbage cans and so the refugees are starving from hunger. We are sitting on this mountain in Europe and we hope for their chance to go!

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