Manolada: Migrant workers shot because they demanded their salaries

Manolada strawberry farmers shoot immigrants who demanded 6 months salaries. 28 wounded in hospital.
The immigrant workers had reportedly gathered to demand six-months’ worth of unpaid wages when one of three work supervisors whom they were negotiating with shot them. About 20-30 of the 200 strawberry pickers from Bangladesh got injured. Local media reported that four of them are in a serious health condition. The employer has been arrested and investigations are going on.
Several thousand migrant workers (many of them reportedly undocumented) are empoyed as strawberry pickers in the area.
This is not the first time that immigrants in Nea Manolada have protested against harsh working conditions.
In 2008, immigrant farm workers staged a two-day strike (delaying the shipments of strawberries by at least a few days) to protest against harsh working conditions. Their strike exposed slave wage exploitation, shocking living conditions and prejudice.
The government at the time responded to the strike by ordering labour inspectors to crack the whip on farmers exploiting migrant workers in Nea Manolada.
Despite the country’s soaring rate of unemployment, agriculture is heavily reliant on immigrant labour.
In 2009, two farmers in Manolada, alleged to have tied two Bangladeshi immigrants to a motorcycle and reportedly dragged them through a central square.

 

 

 

 

 

Lesvos: 3 immigrants dead, 12 missing

The bodies of  three immigrants, one  young woman, one boy about 5 and a  girl about 8 years old were found in different beaches of Lesvos island.
Relatives of 9 Syrians refugees missing since  the 7th of March, when they tried to cross the Aegean, notified the authorities that their relatives were aboard a vessel carrying 15 immigrants from Dikeli (Turkey). They said that they lost contact with the people in the small boat during their crossing from Dikeli to Mitiliene.

Senegalese street vendor died during police operation in Athens

An immigrant from Senegal died falling from a height, on the rails of the subway in Thiseio station in central Athens, during an operation of Municipal Police to remove peddlers from tourist area.

A big operation of Municipal Police started on Friday afternoon on the touristic area of Thiseio, in central Athens, to remove immigrants from the streets, who work as peddlers to live. During this operation Cheikh Babacar Ndiaye a 37 years old immigrant from Senegal, was chased and he died falling from a height, on the rails of the subway in Thiseio station. From the blood seen on the pictures possibly his death resulted from the fall.
Subway metro services were disrupted for at least two hours. First aid assistants removed the body of the immigrant from the rails. Meanwhile his friends gathered at the station, together with other people from Senegal.
Some of them mourned, but when they saw the stretcher with the dead body they began to shout and protest. Some of them they shouted that Police is racists. Riot police arrived immediately and attacked the gathered people, and cleared the area around the station. At the same moment of the attack the dead body of immigrant was moved to an ambulance and left the area, for an unknown and undeclared direction, in spite of the questions made ​​on this.

Source & photos: http://www.demotix.com/news/1765476/immigrant-dies-during-police-operation-athens#media-1765433

 

 

Lesvos: 18 Migrants Found Dead, 9 Missing

Coast guard police has found the bodies of 18 immigrants who were trying to enter Greece from the Aegean.

Their boat capsized early Friday.

A 20-year-old man found alive Friday told authorities there were 28 people on the crowded boat, including its Turkish owner, when it capsized off the northeastern island of Lesvos, near the Turkish coast. The man, who has been hospitalized, is the sole survivor found so far.

A coast guard spokeswoman said the migrants were “of Asian origin” without specifying further.

Last September, in a similar shipwreck in the Aegean, 60 immigrants died, amongst them 31 children…

Reuters: Tortured, detained and ordered out: a migrant’s tale in Greece

Source: http://www.reuters.com/

By Renee Maltezou and Deepa Babington

SALAMINA, Greece | Thu Dec 6, 2012 11:57am EST

(Reuters) – Egyptian immigrant Waleed Taleb says demanding his unpaid wages in Greece came at a heavy price; 18 hours chained and beaten by his boss, a stint in jail and orders to leave the country he calls home.

One of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who toil in Greece’s black labor market, Taleb had just finished cleaning the bakery where he worked one November morning on the island of Salamina when he sparked his boss’s fury.

What followed would end up symbolizing how migrants have become among the biggest and most defenseless victims of Greece’s economic crisis, facing racist attacks, police apathy and a system that punishes them rather than their assailants.

Racist Violence Against Migrants By Greek Police

source: http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com

Dozens of unknown incidents of racist violence, arbitrariness and abuse of office by members of the Greek Police are publish today in Sunday edition of news paper TO ETHNOS. Torture, insulting and even theft are the among the complaints filed by migrants and migrants human rights organisations.

A list of cases records the appalling detains of fascist practices by member of Greek police, practices that are completely ‘harmonized’ with the practices of extreme right Golden Dawn (Chrysi Avgi).

Among the cases under investigation by the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Police are: torture, insults of sexual dignity, theft, extortion, but also destruction of legal document.

From the preliminary results of the investigation, it looks as if in the majority of the incidents listed, the police officers involved apparently keep -in addition to a common mindset – also ‘loyal’ relations with the Golden Dawn.

Hunger strike of migrant detainees in Mytilini and racist attacks against homeless newcomers

Source: http://infomobile.w2eu.net

On Tuesday November 20 some of the migrants detained in Mytilini police station for undocumented entry into Greece through the Turkish border started a hunger strike in order to protest against the humiliating detention conditions and the long detention periods. They struggle for freedom. It is not known how many of them continue the struggle and if some have been already released or not.

Arrivals of migrants have started again this summer, fastly exceeding the capacities of detention cells in the local police stations of the island. Due to the general order “to keep them as long as possible in detention” overcrowdedness amongst others has been reported throughout the four months to worsen the detention conditions.

Uprising in Komotini detention center

Following the events of last Sunday in Corinth detention centre, today the detainees of Komotini started an uprising. Left.gr reported that gun shots have been heard from within the prison and smoke was seen. A solidarity demonstration was held outside the detention center this afternoon, while extra police forces arrived to “control” the situation.

The new mass detention centres in Corinth, Komotini, Xanthi, amigdaleza and Drama are hosting huge numbers of detainees (200-800) under miserable conditions. Only last month the detainees heard of the new law extending detention periods. Desperate and without any information on the period they will have to survive there they have started protesting first in Corinth and now in Komotini.

BBC: Greek police accused over racism and asylum rights

Newsnight’s report on the Greek far-right party Golden Dawn made headlines across Europe last week.

In it, MP Ilias Panagiotaros claimed Greece was “in civil war” and indeed advocated a new kind of civil war, pitting the far-right against migrants, anarchists, etc.

Within 24 hours Mr Panagiotaros had retracted his claim that Greece was “in civil war”, saying instead “there is no civil war” and accusing Newsnight of “paraphrasing” his words. We had simply broadcast them, un-edited and in English.

Now three new reports cast light on the substance of our story – which was: alleged police torture of anti-fascist detainees, Golden Dawn’s influence inside the Greek police force, and its potential influence on the operational behaviour and priorities of the police in the Attica region around Athens.

The Guardian: Greek anti-fascist protesters ‘tortured by police’ after Golden Dawn clash

Fifteen people arrested in Athens says they were subjected to what their lawyer describes as an Abu Ghraib-style humiliation

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Fifteen anti-fascist protesters arrested in Athens during a clash with supporters of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn have said they were tortured in the Attica General Police Directorate (GADA) – the Athens equivalent of Scotland Yard – and subjected to what their lawyer describes as an Abu Ghraib-style humiliation.

Members of a second group of 25 who were arrested after demonstrating in support of their fellow anti-fascists the next day said they were beaten and made to strip naked and bend over in front of officers and other protesters inside the same police station.