Archive for the 'News' Category

Greece: Dublin II deportations suspended for another year

The German Ministry of Interior informed in a letter that deportations to Greece under the Dublin II Regulation will be suspended for another year. The letter states that despite initial changes in the treatment of asylum seekers in Greece the asylum system still does not comply with European standards.
The moratorium is valid until 12th of January 2013.

Fascist pogroms in Athens, one migrant stabbed to death, 17 hospitalized

In the early hours of May 12th a 21-year old Bangladeshi migrant was stabbed to death in the Kato Patisia district of Athens. The victim was lethally stabbed almost certainly by fascist thugs who have launched a series of attacks in the centre of Athens following the murder of a Greek man on Tuesday night, on the corner of Ipirou and Tritis Septemvriou Street. Eye witnesses report that the murderers of the 21-year old man chased him around the neighbourhood and spoke Greek. On Wednesday night alone fascist thugs roamed through a number of districts of central Athens, injuring many migrants, 17 of them were hospitalised.
(published at clandestinenglish on 13 May 2011 )

Video – Fascists attacking Migrants in Athens

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFFJgrvlhaM&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fclandestinenglish.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F05%2F13%2Ffascist-pogroms-in-athens-one-migrant-stabbed-to-death-15-hospitalized%2F&has_verified=1&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fverify_age%3Fnext_url%3Dhttp%253A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%253Fv%253DMFFJgrvlhaM

New pogrom against migrants in Athens centre

In the early morning hours of the 10th May a theft ended up in the tragic murder of a come-to-be father in the centre of Athens. During the following hours of the day, the media started reporting about “three dark skinned suspects”, hence, initiating a propaganda which ended up in a manhunt by fascists of the extreme right group “golden dawn” on all migrants in the centre of the city.

Read full article “Murder instrumentalised by fascist groups for new pogrom against migrants in Athens centre” on infomobile.w2eu.net

Statement by the 300 hunger strikers March 7, 2011

This morning Mr. Mousionis, representative of the hospitals administration, “visited” the Ipatia building [where the hunger strike takes place] three times. The first without any document whatsoever, the second time with a document with no signature and only on the third time did he manage to bring the “correct” document.

He came to pass on to us the government demand for all hunger strikers to be transferred to hospitals and to abandon the site of their struggle. Hunger strikers-representatives of ours responded that if he came to tell us that the generous government can offer us a bed in a hospital in order to die on it, he should tell them that a struggle is a struggle, even when death looms. This means that we only go to hospital because those who sent us there continue robbing us off dignity, resulting in our collapse. If they care about our health, they should meet our demands, so that we can return to our homes and to our jobs. In other words: us hunger strikers will only go to hospital when our doctors deem it necessary.

We the hunger strikers want to emphasize yet another time that when we decide something, we do so alone and in our own assemblies, exclusively.

We insist on continuing our struggle until reaching our target. This target comprises the meeting of certain demands, the most important of which have been co-signed by GSEE and ADEDY [the largest mainstream trade unions in the country] as well as many other social bodies supporting us from across Greece – including all the main social bodies of Thessaloniki (the city’s mayoral assembly, the dean of its university, the barristers’ union, the journalist union, the labour union etc) with a collective letter sent to the prime minister on March 4.
Continue reading ‘Statement by the 300 hunger strikers March 7, 2011’

2.500 people in the streets of Thessaloniki

In Thessaloniki 2.500 people attended the demonstration in solidarity with the 300 hunger strikers last thursday (03/03/2011). Check out pictures and video!

2nd of March 2011: Attack on Greek State web pages planned

On Wednesday the 2nd of March 2011 beginning at 11:00 a.m. Greek time a worldwide act of solidarity is planned by Elecronic Civil Disobedience against the Greek state!

This action was chosen to demonstrate the solidarity with the 300 labourers-migrants hungerstrikers who decided to fight back with their own body and life against a system of exploitation and oppression that capitalism sets up for migrants.
The attack works by loading images of the Greek State web-pages, overloading their servers and making them unfunctional and useless for some time.

For more information in different languages check out the call at:

http://hungerstrike300.espivblogs.net/2011/02/27/solidarity-is-our-wepon-abroad/

Ministery of Labour occupied by solidarity groups

Today (28th of February), on the 35 day of hunger strike solidarity groups occupied the Ministery of Labour in Athens to protest against the unwillingness of the Greek government to comply with the demands for legalisation by the 300 migrant hunger strikers. In December 2010 an egyptian man, who was working as a cleaner at the Ministry of Labour, due to lack of security measures fell to his death from the 3 floor of the building while cleaning the windows. The solidarity groups call for a gathering at 2 p.m. in the Platia Korai, in front of the ministery.
solidarity!

The hunger strike at day 21

This is a translation of this blog post in German. Picture Credit: Stroux

Today is day 21 of the hunger strike. This is a report about the last days. Most of the hunger striking migrants arrived from Crete on a ferry 22 days ago, in order to start the hunger strike. There were huge banners on the ferry, announcing the aims and demands of the hunger strike.

Solidarity groups welcomed the migrants at the port of Piraeus, and then, they altogether moved to an empty building of the university in the centre of Athens. A university building was picked because police is not allowed to enter the university (university asylum) since the end of the military junta, when soldiers entered the polytechnic university by force.

Just as the hunger strike had started, political parties and main stream media started a agitating against the strike. The government sued the owner of the ferry, its agents and the captain for the smuggling of illegalised people (“trafficking”). This is a big joke, since ANEK-lines has been doing deportations for the greek government for years. A few days later already, 1.800 persons had denounced themselves publically for having supported refugees as an act of solidarity.

The agitation led to the hunger strikers having to leave the university building after a few days, as the police threatened to enter by force. We had a gun to our head, one of the activists later stated on a press conference. The very night, a substitute place for more than 100 hunger strikers had to be found. After several hours of negotiations with the paolce and with the owner of a nearby, empty villa, a solidarity demonstration brought the hunger strikers to the new place. Since only the first floor and the cellar can be used, the majority of the hunger strikers have to camp in the yard. Heavy rain turned the situation precarious, only on the 5th of February, a change of weather alleviated the situation.

The hunger strikes are being supported, protected and accompanied day and night by solidarity groups. Since the hunger strikers are very adamant about retaining their autonomy, decisions are made in different assemblies, which nevertheless have exchange. The atmosphere is characterised by determination and respect. Many people support the strikers by visiting or practical aid.

On the 8th of February, a lot of migrant organisations from Athens and Greece declared their solidarity with the hunger strikers and their demands in a press conference. The hunger strikers announced that very day that they would now also stop to drink tea.

On the 9th of February, a long live concert with many greek musicians took place on the adjacent square. There were songs, but also speeches by the migrants and statements of solidarity.

On the 11th and 12th of February, two big demonstrations took place in Athens, where 1.500 people participated.

ECtHR front kicks Dublin II

Yesterday (21st of January 2011) was a bad day for the Dublin II system. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg judged Belgium and Greece for violating European Convention on Human Rights.
Continue reading ‘ECtHR front kicks Dublin II’

Greek parliament approves new migration legislation

Hürriyet daily alerts us to the fact that the Greek Parliament has passed the long announced overhaul of the country’s migration law.

The new law removes control over asylum seekers from the police and hands it over to a new asylum service that will deal with a backlog of some 47,000 applicants, many of them awaiting approval for years. The law will also put in place a procedure for appealing rejected asylum requests.

Citizen’s Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis said the law would allow Greece to set up a screening process under which illegal migrants “will be voluntarily repatriated or expelled.”

We had previously reported on the screening centres: Screening, Detention, Centres

About w2eu

This is the blog of the antiracist network Welcome to Europe. It was formerly known as lesvos09.antira.info.

 

The name Welcome to Europe expresses the discontent and anger we feel when looking at the fatal realities of the European external border: the long documented deaths and suffering have continued for years, and no end is in sight. We stand for a grassroots movement that embraces migration and wants to create a Europe of hospitality.

 

We maintain our focus on the European external border in Greece, but will not limit ourselves to that geographical area. The right of freely roaming the globe has to be fought for everywhere. Join us!

 

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Voices from the Inside of Pagani (2009)

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