Human Rights Watch: Halt Crackdown, Arrests of Migrants

source: human rights watch article

GREECE: HALT CRACKDOWN, ARRESTS OF MIGRANTS

Moving Detained Migrants to North Raises Fears of ‘Pushbacks’ to Turkey

July 27, 2009

Greek authorities are arresting large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers in the country’s cities and islands and moving many of them to the north, raising fears of illegal expulsions to Turkey, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch received reports from a credible source that, in mid-July 2009, police transferred a group of Arabic-speaking people from Chios Island to the Evros border region, where they were secretly forced to cross the border into Turkey. On July 23, local human rights activists prevented authorities from transferring 63 migrants from Lesvos Island to the north by blocking access to the ferry. On July 25, the police took most of them to Athens under heavy police escort.

“These operations and transfers are very worrying,” said Bill Frelick, refugee policy director at Human Rights Watch. “We fear that people are being prevented from seeking asylum, that children arriving alone are not being protected, and that migrants are kept in unacceptable detention conditions and possibly even being secretly expelled to Turkey.”

In another recent episode, in a large-scale police operation from July 16 to 18, police in Athens surrounded what appeared to be several hundred migrants and locked them inside an abandoned courthouse. The police arrested anyone who left the building. It is feared that some of them may have needed protection and did not have a chance to file a claim for asylum, the police prevented Human Rights Watch from speaking to the people held inside, and Human Rights Watch does not know the whereabouts of those who were arrested when they tried to leave.

In a November 2008 report, “Stuck in a Revolving Door: Iraqis and Other Asylum Seekers and Migrants at the Greece/Turkey Entrance to the European Union,” Human Rights Watch documented how Greek authorities have systematically expelled migrants illegally across the Greece-Turkey border, in violation of many international legal obligations. These “pushbacks” typically occur at night from detention facilities in the northern part of the country, close to the Turkish border, and they involve considerable logistical preparation. Human Rights Watch at that time interviewed 41 asylum seekers and refugees – all privately and confidentially – in various locations in both Greece and Turkey, who gave consistent accounts of Greek authorities taking them to the Evros River at night and then forcing them across.

Human Rights Watch also documented how Greek authorities miscategorize unaccompanied children as adults and detain them for prolonged periods of time in conditions that could be considered inhumane and degrading. (See the December 2008 report, “Left to Survive: Systematic Failure to Protect Unaccompanied Migrant Children in Greece.”)

Undocumented Afghan migrant children sleep in a forest on the outskirts of Patras, Greece. © 2009 Moises Saman/Panos Pictures

In yet another recent incident, on July 12, police destroyed a makeshift migrant camp in Patras, on the Peloponnese peninsula. In the days before the camp was destroyed, the police reportedly arrested large numbers of migrants there, and according to credible sources, transferred an unknown number to the northern part of the country. On July 17, Human Rights Watch met with several Afghans in Patras, including 12 unaccompanied migrant children now homeless as a result of this operation, who were in hiding in abysmal conditions out of fear of being arrested.

A 24-year-old man told Human Rights Watch: “We’re living like animals in the jungle … we can’t take a shower and we don’t have proper food … before I lived in the camp, but all of my things and clothes were burned. Now I have a shirt and a pair of pants, nothing else.”

A 14-year-old Afghan boy who arrived in Greece one year earlier said: “The worst situation during the past year is now, in Patras – now that I’m living in this forest …. There’s not enough food and we only eat bread with water.”

Human Rights Watch also observed on July 17 how more than 1,000 migrants lined up all night, largely in vain, trying to file asylum applications at Athens’ main police station. Greece recognizes as few as 0.05 percent of asylum seekers as refugees at their first interview and passed a law at the end of June that abolishes a meaningful appeals procedure, making it virtually impossible for anyone to obtain refugee status. It also extended the maximum length of administrative detention for migrants to 12 months – and under certain circumstances, up to 18 months – from previously 90 days.

“It appears Greece is doing everything it can to close the door on persons who seek protection in Europe, no matter how vulnerable they are,” said Frelick. “The European Union must hold Greece accountable for acts contrary to international and European human rights and refugee law, and it needs to act fast, as the lives of many are at risk.”

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/07/27/greece-halt-crackdown-arrests-migrants

© Copyright 2008, Human Rights Watch

Amnesty International: Further forced evictions leave large numbers homeless

source

Amnesty International

Public Statement

AI Index: EUR 25/008/2009

22 July 2009

Greece: Further forced evictions leave large numbers homeless

Amnesty International is again calling on the Greek authorities to ensure that individuals made homeless following forced evictions are provided with suitable alternative accommodation, in line with the country’s international obligations.

According to reports, the latest incident started early in the morning of 20 July 2009 and was completed on 21 July 2009. The Greek police evicted around 100 individuals who had been living in the Old Appeal Court of Athens. No alternative accommodation was reportedly provided to those living in the disused courthouse either before or after the eviction. There are also reports that the remaining migrants living at the courthouse did not receive appropriate notification of the impending eviction by the police.

Around 600 persons, including irregular migrants and potentially asylum-seekers, had lived for the last three years in the disused courthouse in Sokratous street in squalid conditions with no water, electricity or proper sanitation. Over the past two months the Greek authorities had been making attempts to evict them from the building. The 600 inhabitants had refused to move, claiming they had no alternative accommodation. At the time of their eviction the number of those remaining there had been reduced to around 100 people, following a series of sweep operations by the police in the centre of Athens which led to many of those living in the courthouse being arrested for having no proof of their legal right to remain in Greece.

According to reports the police arrested only a few of those evicted, as most had left the building the night before and dispersed around the centre of Athens. Fears have been expressed by local non-governmental organisations that many of those evicted were subsequently arrested in sweep operations conducted by the police in the centre of Athens on 20 and 21 July and that those with no documents confirming their legal right to stay are likely to be detained and deported.

On 9 May 2009, five migrants were injured after members of a far-right group tried to storm the courthouse. Some human rights activists were also lightly injured during the attack. There were reports that although the police were present, they did not take action to prevent the attacks or protect those under the attack.

These events follow the eviction of around 300 migrants and asylum-seekers from their makeshift homes in Patras on 12 July 2009. At that time Amnesty International expressed concern that around 100 individuals were left homeless as a result, living in fields close to Patras without shelter, or access to water, sanitation and medical assistance. Among those left unprotected were said to be a small number of unaccompanied minors.

International law prohibits forced evictions. No one should be evicted without adequate notice, prior consultation, due process of law including access to legal remedies, and provision of adequate alternative accommodation. Forced evictions violate a range of international and regional human rights treaties and standards, which protect the right to adequate housing, most notably the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Greece is a party.

Evictions may only be carried out as a last resort, once all other feasible alternatives have been explored, and only when all appropriate procedural protections are in place. All persons, irrespective of their legal status, must be guaranteed protection against forced evictions.

For further information about Amnesty International’s concerns about the asylum system and the treatment of asylum seekers and migrants in Greece see:

Greece: Amnesty International condemns forced evictions in Patras,AI Index: EUR 25/007/2009

Through the Demand Dignity campaign, launched in May 2009, Amnesty International is calling on governments globally to take all necessary measures, including the adoption of laws and policies that comply with international human rights law, to prohibit and prevent forced evictions.

The Destruction of a Refugee Camp in Greece: A report by the Movement for the Rights of Refugees and Immigrants in Patras.

The Destruction of a Refugee Camp in Greece:

A report by the Movement for the Rights of Refugees and Immigrants in Patras.

Email of the Movement:

kinisi.yperaspisis@gmail.com

The consequences of the war by EU and US in Afghanistan are more than apparent in Greece. This war created thousands of refugees who are trying to survive by traveling to “democratic” Europe. Thousands have died on this “journey” and those that arrived alive face a “fortress Europe.” The following is a report about the destruction of a point of arrival, a refugee camp, in the third biggest town in Greece, Patras.

The Patras refugee camp was destroyed on July 12, 2009. It had a lifetime of approximately eight years. Located in the north of the city, next to a small river – Milichos – behind Iroon Polytechniou Avenue, it consisted of about 150 small huts, in an area of 5 to 6 acres, with a mosque in the center and a few improvised shops. It hosted and protected 1000 to 2000 refugees from Afghanistan. Though it was an improvised camp, under miserable hygienic conditions, it was the last refuge, the last hope for refugees in Patras. At least 300 of them had applied for asylum and had managed to get a “red card,” while 200 others wanted one, but could not apply, since the authorities who are responsible for accepting and processing applications did not have a translator.

Several attempts to demolish the camp were made by the authorities.

On the 23rd of January 2008, for example, with the use of a demolition protocol that was composed by the Prefecture and characterized the camp as “an arbitrary construction,” another effort to tear down the camp was made. This effort was preceded by an extensive operation that took place in order to arrest and remove from the city 1500 refugees. Both the arrest and the demolition activities were prevented after organized actions by the Movement of the rights of Refugees and Immigrants and a huge demonstration (of 2.000 people) that took place with the participation of the refugees themselves in the end of January.

A year later, second attempt was made on the 21st of January 2009, when a fire burned down about 40 huts. Authorities accused Afghans themselves as the arsonists. The fire was put out and the camp was once more saved.

The solidarity movement supported this “miserable camp” and insisted to the end that before demolishing the already existing refugee camp, a new one should be built within the city limits, where people could move freely whenever and wherever they wanted.

This claim was widely accepted and adopted by some official members of Mr. Karamanlis’ government, such as the Minister for Home Affairs, Mr. Pr. Pavlopoulos. The Support Movement to the Immigrants and Refugees and other organizations defending refugees rights also demanded that asylum and travel documents should be issued to the refugees, the under age should be protected, and activities aiming to the social integration of the refugees should be supported.

After the recent European Union (EU) elections, along with the rise of the right-wing party of LAOS, the (supposedly) socialist party of PASOK acceded to the ruthless EU measures against refugees: “No tolerance to illegal immigrants.” Those were the words used before the elections by the leader of PASOK, Mr. G. Papandreou. These are the immediate reasons why the plans for building a new refugee camp were abandoned and, instead, cruel police measures were adopted, including the fortifying of the harbor and the launching of police invasions on the camp. In addition several arrests were made under terrorizing circumstances. The refugees who were not arrested (especially those who had a red card) were threatened to prevent them from going near the camp again.

Under these circumstances – and especially because of the police actions – the number of residents in the camp dramatically declined during the past two months. The refugees stopped sleeping in the camp and dispersed within the city. Some of them fled to other places. Police authorities and the local political leadership were satisfied by the effectiveness of these measures and the decrease in the number of refugees, claiming that these measures helped to solve the “problem” of the camp without the need of creating a new host place.

Sunday morning of the 12th of July 2009, however, was the time of the “final solution.” At 5:30 am, police forces reinforced by six MAT squads (with blue and green overalls) – who came from Athens – surrounded the camp, under the presence of the local political leadership and a public prosecutor. Never before in Patras there was there a such “operation” by the police. And this “operation” was against people that are the victims of a war; that is, it is an “operation” against refugees that are created by the war of US and EU.

This operation found the parties of New Democracy, PASOK and LAOS, in agreement and in favor to the tough measures of the police forces. It was intended to solve the refugee problem in the city by military means. An official statement concerning this measure was released on Saturday evening, but it was not clear what it meant. Along with the remaining refugees, only 15 members of our organization and a few other people in solidarity were present. Other people, including young members of anarchists groups either failed to approach, got arrested or were detained for identification.

Some police forces encircled the camp while others invaded it. About 200 refugees who did not manage to escape were arrested. The leaders of the operation didn’t permit to the members of our organization to have any access to information or to the refugees. Only after two hours of pressure did we see a document by the Perfecture that permitted the destruction of the camp, but its legality is questionable.

Bulldozers, trucks and buses (one double-decker bus and three normal ones) arrived. Bulldozers made the final attack on the camp, while the buses gathered the refugees. Under-age children were taken and left at a shelter in Konitsa (400 km north). The red card possessors were taken away to a hotel, since the have applied for asylum. Those who did not have the appropriate papers and were not under age (always according to the decisions made by the police) were driven to an unknown destination and detained, without anybody being informed concerning their whereabouts. At 8 am, when Afghans disappeared from the camp, the bulldozers and the trucks began demolishing the huts, excluding the mosque in order not to be blamed for disrespect to this religious place. A few minutes later flames appeared in the camp site, completing the demolition quickly and without exceptions. The mosque turned into ashes.

According to the police, the fire was started by the Afghans and as proof of this claim video tape belonging to local TV stations showed three Afghans running in the camp. According to uncertain information at this time the three Afghans have already been tried in court for committing arson.

Later the same morning, a second operation started, this time against the Sudanese who live in the south of the city. The Sudanese have no huts, only blankets and cardboard shelters. For the authorities, it was a good opportunity to “clear” Patras from all foreigners.

The Movement for the Rights of Refugees and Immigrants states, «It is a failure of policy to resort to military solutions as a response to social problems. It is a failure of policy to be unable to design a long-term immigration plan. It is a failure of policy to make decisions while ignoring the causes that produce refugees. Tomorrow, in one week or in one month refugees will be here again.»

Doctors Without Borders (working inside the Afghans’ camp since May 2008 providing primary medical care and psychosocial support) expressed its deep concern after the police operation in the camp of Patras: «Most of the people are forced to leave their country because of war or extreme poverty and face an uncertain future and a possible detention for an unknown period of time. This can have very negative effects on health and psychological state ». The Communist Party and SYRIZA (left parties) made statements, condemned police operation against the Afghans’ camp and characterizing it as brutality.

While police forces and political leadership seem satisfied by the outcome of the operation, the Movement for the Rights of Immigrants and Refugees and several other movements of solidarity with the refugees are planning the following actions:

Supporting and offering solidarity to refugees and immigrants wherever they are found within the city, where they are hiding under the fear of arrests and deportations.

Taking all the necessary legal actions in order to find out the legitimacy of the break down of the camp.

Pushing the authorities to accept new applications for asylum.

Demanding that the asylum seekers are treated with dignity and have their rights protected.

Publishing the brutality, since hunting the refugees is a cruel barbarism.

We demand:

- The release of the arrested.

- The issuing of asylum and travel documents to the refugees.

- The protection of the under age with social inclusion measures.

- The social integration of the refugees.

As one of the asylum seekers told us yesterday “Even if the house of animals is destroyed, people permit them to build their house somewhere else. We don’t even have this right.”

Testimonies from refugees raided in Patras

source http://www.meltingpot.org/, uk indymedia

Translated from Italian by Chiara- from http://www.meltingpot.org/

by Basir Ahang

Sunday 12th July, at 5 o’clock in the morning, the Greek police and army commandos have entered the camp of Patras, destroying and setting fire to everything. The migrants had built this camp in 2002, and since then thousands of people had found refuge there. Here lived Iranians, Iraqis, Africans, but mostly Afghans fleeing the inferno of war.
The destruction of the camp was decided by the Greek government in April, although this violated the Human Rights and was legally prohibited by the Geneva Convention.
Mustafa, a young resident at the Afghan camp, phoned me in tears telling that at 5 in the morning the police entered with bulldozers in the area, but, realising that the boys had no intention of leaving the only place that had left, began to threaten them by saying that they had permission to shoot if their orders were not obeyed. As this threat proved entirely ineffective, the police began to set fire to the shacks.
Once they exited the camp, the boys were immediately arrested. They were one hundred in all: 60 of them were transferred to prison in Komotini, while the other 40 have been deported to a town on the border between Greece and Albania. Among them two boys, Najib Haidari and Saeid Mustafa, were certainly among those who were able to appeal to the European Court. Yet Mustafa, during the same call, said he was scared because 240 people had already been deported in the days before the destruction of the camp, first to Turkey, Istanbul, and from there many were deported to Afghanistan. Najib and Mustafa were in possession of a document sent by the European Court in which it was expressly declared the prohibition to touch these people. When the guys showed the document to police officers, they just answered that the document was written in French and therefore it was valid in France, not in Greece.

So one wonders: who is responsible for the protection of these boys?
The UNCHR? The European Union? Nobody in the world?

If the Geneva Convention and Human Rights were respected these people should be protected from the violence of the Greek government, and they are all still there, those who fled, those already on the way home, condemned to death by a state that passes this sentence only for immigrants.

Here is a list of addresses and phone numbers useful for those who want to tell those responsible what they think about the attack to the refugee camp of Patras:

Ambasciata di Grecia presso lo Stato Italiano Via S. Embassy of Greece to the Italian State.

Mercadante 36Via Mercadante 3600198-Rome

Phone 06.8537551

Fax 06.8415927 Fax 06.8415927

gremroma@tin.it

Office of Defense at the Embassy of Greece in Italy
Viale Rossini, 4 Via Rossini, 4
00198-Rome
Phone 06.8553100
Fax 06.85354014

[ mercoledì 15 luglio 2009 ] [Wednesday 15 July 2009]

Médecins Sans Frontières on the destruction of Patras settlement.

source: msf website

Patras, Greece: “All these people have lost their homes and safety overnight”

JULY 17, 2009

© MSF

Micky van Gerven, Head of Mission

A makeshift migrants’ camp in Patras, Greece, was demolished on July 12 during a police operation that ended in fire. Micky van Gerven, Head of Mission for the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) project for migrants, asylum-seekers, and refugees in Greece, talks about the situation in the city and expresses MSF’s concern over the medical and mental health conditions of the people who lost all their belongings and were left homeless.

Five days after the demolition of the camp what is the situation of migrants, asylum-seekers, and refugees in Patras?

The demolition of the camp has left all the people who were previously living there homeless. Most of them have lost everything, all their belongings, during the clearing of the camp or the fire. Asylum-seekers—those who are registered and have papers—have been offered shelter at a hotel, but it is unclear how long they will be able to stay there. Unaccompanied minors—children under the age of 18 without their parents—have been offered to be brought to a reception center. Some of these children are only 13 or 14 years old and they are afraid to accept this offer, because they think they will be sent to jail.

All undocumented migrants either have been arrested or have fled into Patras, or are somewhere in hiding. The people who are now in the streets do not have access to hygiene and cooking facilities; they have no water or food. All of these people have lost their home and their relative safety overnight. For every human being, this is a traumatic experience.

How is MSF responding to their needs?

The team in Patras is following their patients where have gone. They are giving medical and psychosocial assistance to those who have gathered in different parts of the city and are monitoring the health situation of other groups. Over the last three days, the team has distributed hygiene material, sleeping bags, and food to those who have nothing left.

Do you have any information about the undocumented migrants who were arrested? Where were they taken?

As far as we know, the people who were arrested were taken to police stations in and around Patras, where they are kept with other undocumented migrants who have been arrested by the police before the demolition of the camp. We have witnessed undocumented migrants being kept in police stations for up to 20 days. The team has managed to visit one of these police stations and has seen that the police cells are not suitable; many people are cramped in one cell, having to sleep on very dirty floors, as there are no mattresses. They also lack direct access to showers and toilets. We are concerned that many of these people have medical and mental health needs that are not addressed and we have even seen people in custody who were injured during their arrest.

When they still lived in the camp, many of these people were our patients and we are concerned about their mental and physical health. Many of them come from war-torn countries; many have made a difficult journey under harsh circumstances, so they are in need of support and care and they need a roof over their heads.

What about the minors?

The minors need special attention. They went through similar hardships, but are obviously more vulnerable. We know that the Ministry of Health is in principle taking care of them by providing care and accommodation for them in special centers, but we also know that these centers are already overcrowded and that many of the minors are being held in detention centers or end up in the streets without any protection.

Related:

MSF Calls For Humane Treatment, Medical Assistance to Migrants Displaced in Greece

Immigrant Repression in Greece

Greece Immigrant Repression

July 17, 2009

By Authors Many

Authors Many’s ZSpace Page

From: Z Net – The Spirit Of Resistance Lives

URL: http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/22026

The truth may be bitter, but it must be told

- Written on a wall of a detention centre in Lesvos

[The following is based on reports by many people and organizations in Greece.]

It has been around a year and a half now since the first attempt of the state to demolish the self-made Afghani refugee camp in Patras, which was prevented due to a vast and eminent solidarity movement. Nevertheless, the public authorities struck back and eventually succeeded to fulfil their initial plan on the dawn of Sunday 12th of July. This action can be only described as part of a major concrete plan of “zero tolerance” designed and declared by Markoyannakis, the Minister of Public Order of Greece.

The operation was initially planned to take place the night before, yet it was decided to postpone for a day in order for riot police reinforcements to arrive from Athens. At around 3.30 a.m. on Sunday numerous riot police forces swamped the whole area surrounding the refugee camp. By 5 a.m. they had already blocked every street leading to the camp inducing a climate of terror in the area. Only 150 immigrants were still there, by that point knowingly unable to defend themselves and their vestige shelter after weeks of continuous repression, arrests and terror deriving from the state. Some managed to flee the camp only moments before getting arrested and the rest were indulged to the hands of the authorities. The camp was unreachable for the protestors outside and the few who were already inside in solidarity got arrested and were released only after the operation was complete. The obvious reason for these arrests was to have no witnesses of the imminent villainous scenes of state-induced horror.

Immediately after the arrests and the removal of the immigrants on police buses, the demolition of the camp started before a huge fire erupted, burning any ruins of sheds and personal belongings. Nothing should be left to remind us that there used to be a refuge for thousands of immigrants and refugees throughout the years, desperate to seek survival and a dignified life in the European Fortress.

At the same time, at the other side of the port of Patras, another operation was taking place targeting mainly Somalian and Arab immigrants, which resulted to a horrific manhunt at the centre of Patras.

The Afghani self-made refugee camp that used to be located in the city of Patras until some days ago is one of the numerous similar camps around that region and also all over Greece. It used to host many immigrants and war refugees coming mostly from Afghanistan but also from Iran and Pakistan. The number of the people living there cannot be precisely defined since most of its inhabitants used it as a starting point on their effort to make an undocumented travel to a country of Northern European Union via Italy and under life-threatening conditions. Or at least they hope to. Mostly during the summer period, the number of people at the camp peaked at 1.500 or so, but was reduced after some time since many who used to stay there either successfully escaped to Italy, or died out of starvation or contagious diseases or finally, were arrested, detained or deported.

Greece cannot be described exactly as a friendly country for immigrants. Asylum seekers are being sent back to Greece from Germany and other European countries without their applications for asylum having been thoroughly examined. Greece then in turn takes responsibility either for the hosting or the deportation of these immigrants – more often than not, of course, the case is the latter. The legal basis for this is the European Dublin II Regulation under which the state through which the asylum seeker entered European territory is responsible for processing the asylum claim. For a large number of people, particularly those from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Somalia, the escape route leads them across the Aegean into Greece.

There are two main routes into Greece from Turkey: one is across the Turkish-Greek land border in the northeast of the country, in the Evros river region. Many immigrants and refugees get killed when stepping on landmines in this region or simply suffocating in the trucks that are used for carrying them in the mainland by the mafia smugglers. The other route lies via the Eastern edge of the Mediterranean: refugees attempt to reach one of the Greek islands situated only a few kilometres away from the Turkish mainland. The islands in the North Aegean, particularly those of Chios, Samos and Lesbos are important points of entry to the E.U. for arrival by sea. Again, many of those immigrants and refugees get killed either by the coastguard who shoots them inconsiderately or get drown due to the overweight self-made dinghies that carry them. 181 people were killed in 2008 on their effort to cross the borders of Greece, while the total number across Fortress Europe reached 1.502 during this year. However, there are concerns about the possibility of these numbers not being whole, since these are only the deaths reported and published by the press.

Huge concerns are also focused on reports from asylum seekers who, during hearings in Germany, state that whilst in Greece, they were given no opportunity to file an asylum claim in accordance with the requirements of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Furthermore, the numbers of refugees reporting maltreatment by the Greek coastguard has increased during the past few years. Nonetheless, the Prime Minister of Greece recently proposed the strengthening the European Frontier Control Agency (Frontex) along with a European coast guard to improve maritime surveillance.

It is hard also for someone to describe the horrible conditions under which people were living at the Patras camp. Being cordoned off 24/7 by the police in order not to get out, they would have to sneak out to get food of some kind. Moreover, the infrastructure of the camp was entirely insufficient, with just a few makeshift sheds and packed people struggling to survive inside and no water supply or sanitation. The attempt by some activists in late May to build a water system was sabotaged only some days after having been completed. The continuous growth of the movement in solidarity with the refugees reached its peak in September 2008 when a No Borders Camp was organised in the area around the camp and with the active participation of the refugees, not only for the discussions but also in vibrantly demonstrating in the centre of the city.

The camp was located in an upmarket area of Patras, surrounded by buildings some of which were half-constructed since the contractors were afraid that they wouldn’t be able to sell their properties due to the “hideous image” of the camp. The propaganda of the mainstream media, especially local ones, against the camp and generally against immigration had been harsh and continuous. Newspaper headlines the day after the demolition are significant: “It was about time to demolish this disgrace!”, “The abscess is finally gone” and many more. Furthermore, a large portion of the local community of Patras had always been hostile towards the refugee camp, scaling even to organise a petition against it, without realising the terrible consequences of potential deportations or tortures by the police after the immigrants would be arrested.

After the demolition of the refugee camp, the city of Patras came back to normal: Business as usual. The contractors are free now to continue building their hideous enormous buildings, the mayor has fulfilled his pre-election declarations, the political parties can influence public opinion without having the inconvenient debate on the “huge problem of the refugees” and of course the police are getting more confident for their achievements. The port of Patras looks like a fortress, overwhelmed by CCTV cameras and coastguard, creating an unattractive alternative for any immigrant or refugee to use the city as a gate for freedom to a country of the Northern European Union.

So now that the city got decontaminated by the “dangerous disease of the refugees” who is next?

The answer to this question is quite obvious: any voice of resistance should be silenced. The government has declared for quite some time its intention to suppress every dissenting voice, targeting mainly the movement of resistance. Using the dogma of “zero tolerance” even more repressive regulations are being unleashed, criminalising occupied social centres, introducing special laws with which wearing a hood during a demo is considered to be a felony. At the same time, there is also an attempt to create a tremendous database with DNA samples and fingerprints along with installing as many CCTV cameras as possible across urban areas. The Minister of Public Order was clear when proclaiming: “first we’ll go for the immigrants and then for the anarchists”.

Consequently, the State of Security strikes back. Following Berlusconi’s example, coordinating superbly with all the extreme right groups, including the nazist “Golden Dawn” there has been a totalitarian scheme continuously for the past few months including beating up or even shooting immigrants on the streets of Athens, blocking the entrance of public playgrounds for the children of immigrants… In response to this latest move, big clashes with the police and fascists from one side and active citizens from the other erupted in a central Athens neighbourhood some weeks ago. The police seem more determined than ever, with the support of their nazi collaborators, to deport, arrest, humiliate publicly and torture immigrants and most recently, to ban and try to block an antiracist demo in Athens, throwing molotovs and bricks towards unarmed protestors.

Yet not only does the State of Security strike back: So does the movement. The political legacy that is in the hands of the society after December’s revolt is enormous and ample. The most important lesson that had to be taught was that the movement should be effective and drastic under any circumstances. And the only way of being effective is, apart from unifying for common causes, to have widespread local assemblies organised by the citizens following the principles of self-management and direct democracy. There have been many such initiatives so far (most of them successful) for reclaiming public spaces, abandoned green spaces or empty military camps that were planned to be used as private parking lots or other private settlements intending to raise the profits of the state and the bosses.

In addition to this, the political legacy of December has also affected the workers’ movement. The workers who lost their jobs due to their strike during December in solidarity with the protestors have been embraced by the movement and continue their self-organised struggles. Apart from this, the autonomous unions are gradually gaining more support. Finally, there are ongoing grass roots struggles against the privatisation of public services.

It takes more than repression and terror laws to restrain a movement that is growing gradually bigger and more effective. A movement that, especially now, does not work for those suffering but along with them. Not for the society but with the society. A movement that has repeatedly proven to remain unaffected by the image imposed by the mainstream media about some imaginary “public opinion” but expresses what the real public opinion is on the streets and on their daily lives. Even if they manage to shut one mouth, thousands of other mouths will be opened.

Greece: Amnesty International condemns forced evictions in Patras

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PUBLIC STATEMENT

16 July 2009

AI Index: EUR 25/007/2009

Amnesty International is calling on the Greek government to ensure that around 100 people who became homeless after being forcibly evicted from their makeshift homes in Patras on 12 July 2009 are provided with immediate emergency relief, including shelter, water and access to medical assistance. The government should also ensure that all victims of the forced eviction are guaranteed the right to an effective remedy and receive adequate alternative accommodation and compensation.

In the context of its long standing concerns that the treatment of irregular migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees in Greece violates international standards, Amnesty International is also urging the authorities to provide access to fair and satisfactory asylum procedures to the individuals evicted from the campsite and those arrested during and following the operation who wish to apply for asylum including full procedural safeguards.

Amnesty International also calls the authorities to ensure that the deportation procedures initiated against the irregular migrants arrested during and following the eviction operation are in accordance with due process of law and include procedural safeguards, including the ability to challenge individually the decision to deport; access to competent interpretation services and legal counsel; and access to a review, ideally a judicial review, of a negative decision.

The campsite in Patras has been occupied for some 13 years, most recently by approximately 300 people of Afghani origin including asylum-seekers and irregular migrants. A significant number of these individuals were minors, many of whom were unaccompanied. In breach of international law, people were forcibly evicted from their homes without adequate notice, any prior consultation with the community, due process of law including access to legal remedies, and provision of adequate alternative accommodation for many of those who were evicted. Forced evictions violate a range of international and regional human rights standards to which Greece is a party, including the right to adequate housing. Evictions may only be carried out as a last resort, once all other feasible alternatives have been explored, and only when all appropriate procedural protections are in place. All persons, irrespective of their legal status, must be guaranteed protection against forced evictions.

The afternoon before the evictions officers from the Patras police force are said to have orally informed some of the individuals living at the campsite that their homes would be demolished the following day, but no official notice of the order was given. The makeshift dwellings were demolished from 5.30am on 12 July in an operation carried out by the county administration, the planning authorities and the police. According to reports many people were not provided with adequate time to remove all their belongings and that day the authorities also refused to show the order of demolition to lawyers representing a non-governmental organization working for the rights of refugees and migrants in the city of Patras. Thus, many people lost their belongings as a result of the demolition and also of a fire that broke out during the demolition.

Around 200 people were present at the time of the evictions, as some of those affected including unaccompanied minors were said to have left the campsite the night before. According to information from the Achaias Police Directorate, in the context of the demolition operation conducted on 12 July 2009, the police documented 45 unaccompanied minors of Afghani origin who were later sent to the special reception centre for minors in the town of Konitsa. Seventeen more minors of Afghani origin subsequently presented themselves at the Patras police station in the days following the eviction, and will be transferred to minors’ reception centres in the north of Greece;

The Police Directorate also documented several asylum-seekers of Afghani origin holding documentation proving they had applied for asylum. This number included 23 people who stated that they were homeless and who were subsequently provided with accommodation in local hotels; 15 people of Afghani origin with no papers who were arrested and detained as irregular migrants; and 14 more migrants from various African countries with no papers who were arrested and detained during the same day in different police operations. For all of those arrested, deportation procedures have been initiated.

Currently, however, there are reported to be some 80 to 100 individuals evicted from the campsite who are homeless and living in fields close to Patras without shelter or access to water, sanitation and medical assistance. Among those left unprotected are said to be a small number of unaccompanied minors. Under international human rights standards, Greece is obligated to ensure that evictions do not result in individuals becoming homeless or vulnerable to violations of other human rights.

Early last year, Amnesty International had expressed concern over the welfare of a large number of individuals then living at the Patras campsite when they were threatened with eviction following a decision by the planning authorities to demolish their makeshift homes in December 2007. The evictions did not take place at that time as the planning authorities accepted an appeal lodged against the order of demolition.

The current operation comes against the backdrop of a series of moves by the Greek police across the country in the past few months which have seen many irregular migrants arrested, detained and deported back to their countries of origin. In recent months the Patras police have reportedly carried out three such operations at the site where the demolition took place, arresting between 40 and 50 people each time. As a result the number of those living at the site is said to have fallen from a rough estimate of 500 people in May this year to the 300 individuals said to have been living there prior to the evictions.

Amnesty International is requesting additional information on the eviction from the Greek government including on what measures the government will take to ensure that all those who were forcibly evicted are guaranteed their right to an effective remedy, including adequate alternative accommodation and compensation for all losses. Amnesty International is also urging the Greek authorities to ensure that the reported 80 to 100 people left without shelter are provided with emergency relief, including shelter, access to water and medical assistance. Specific measures should be taken to identify and protect the unaccompanied minors said to be among this number.

Furthermore, Amnesty International reiterates its position that the Greek authorities should only ever detain migrants as a measure of last resort, after justifying in each individual case that it is a necessary and proportionate measure that conforms with international law. Alternative non-custodial measures should be the preferred solution and should always be considered before resorting to detention. Recognized refugees and migrants with a regular status should never have their rights to liberty or freedom of movement restricted for immigration purposes.

For further information about Amnesty International’s concerns about the asylum system and the treatment of asylum seekers and migrants in Greece see:

Greece: Proposed ch…, AI Index: EUR 25/005/2009

Greece: Amnesty Int…, AI Index: EUR 25/006/2009

UN criticises Italian, Greek asylum policies

source

By Judith Crosbie

14.07.2009 / 13:29 CET

Refugee agency warns of maltreatment, failure to accept asylum applications and changes to legal system.

The UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, today (14 July) criticised Italy’s treatment of would-be asylum-seekers and Greece’s decision to close down a camp housing asylum-seekers and change its laws on asylum.

The UNHCR said it feared that Italy’s new policy of intercepting migrants at sea may has resulted in failures to honour its obligations to asylum-seekers and in maltreatment of migrants. It says that, since May, Italy has picked up 900 people at sea and returned them to the north African coast from which they sailed.

In a statement, the UNHCR said it had “expressed serious concerns about the impact of this new policy which, in the absence of adequate safeguards, can prevent access to asylum and undermines the international principle of non-refoulement”, which is intended to prevent refugees being returned to places where their lives or freedoms could be threatened.

The UNHCR cited a case on 1 July when the Italian navy picked up 82 people 30 miles from the southern island of Lampedusa. A “significant number” of the group wanted to claim asylum but were sent back to Libya on a Libyan ship and placed in detention centres, the UNHCR said. It has asked the Italian authorities to provide information on those sent back to Libya.

It added that it had been told “disturbing accounts” of Italian personnel using force to transfer the migrants onto the Libyan ship, resulting in six people needing medical attention. Their belongings, including documents, were taken from them and have not yet been returned. “Those interviewed spoke of the distress they were in after four days at sea and said that the Italian navy did not offer them any food during the 12-hour operation to return them to Libya,” UNHCR said.

Of the group of 82, 76 were from Eritrea, including nine women and at least six children. A recent report by Human Rights Watch said Eritrea was “one of the most closed and repressive states in the world”, and the government stands accused of repression and abuse of its citizens, including detention, torture, forced labour and restrictions of freedom of movement and expression.

Greece was similarly criticised on a number of counts, including its decision to close down a makeshift camp in Patras on 12 July, which left many of its residents, including registered asylum-seekers, without a roof over their heads.

An unknown number of undocumented residents of the camp were arrested and taken to a police station in Patras, where, according to the UNHCR, translation and interpretation services may be inadequate. The organisation also voiced concern about the decision to transfer 44 unaccompanied minors to a special reception centre in Konitsa, northern Greece.

The statement was issued just after Greece adopted a law decentralising asylum decisions to over 50 police directorates and abolishing the existing appeals process in favour of a judicial review that will address only points of law. “These new developments are likely to make protection even more elusive for those who need it in Greece,” it warned in a statement.

Almost 20,000 applications for asylum in Greece were lodged in 2008. During that year, Greece awarded international protection to just 379 people.

Fascism on the rise: the last few days in Greece…

Nazi Greek state: Kristallnacht in Patras, bullets in Athens, torture in Simi.

source: libcom.org article

Submitted by taxikipali on Jul 13 2009

The rapid nazification of the Greek state took off last weekend with the violent evacuation and torching of the large Afghan immigrant settlement in Patras, shooting of immigrants in Omoinoia square and institutionalised torture of Pakistanis in the island of Simi.

The nazification of the Greek state which is endorsing parastate groups to ‘clean and patrol’ areas comes in a climate of acute social antagonistic upheaval. Besides the continuing resistance locals of Grammaticos villages who rose against the construction of an open refuse dump in their area, erecting barricades and clashing with the police, last week saw a series of dynamic antifascist antiracist protest marches against State-nazi attacks against immigrants. At the same time, on the early hours of Saturday the house of the ex-Minister of Public Order (active during the December Uprising and Alexis Grigoropoulos assassination by the police) and ex-chief of the Greek Army, General Hinophotis, was bombed with a strong explosive device after prior warning call to the press. A few hours later earlier yet another armed attack against riot police forces occurred near the HQ of PASOK with no victims On the early morning Sunday, following the surge of State-fascist attacks the HQ camp of the riot police (MAT) in Athens came under attack by protesters which piled the riot policemen with stones leading to a half hour battle.

The Greek state’s response to the December Uprising and the politicisation of immigrants across the country has solidified in a programme of nazification that includes open endorsement of neo-nazi vigilante combat groups, a series of the most repressive laws seen since the junta, and open attack against both the social antagonistic movement and immigrants across the country.

On early Saturday 11/7 morning armed nazi scum riding a car drove by the heavily policed Omonoia square in down town Athens and opened fire on bystander immigrants near the offices of the Golden Dawn neo-nazi party. Three wounded immigrants were taken to hospital and are out of danger. Later the same night nazi scum set fire on Palio Efetio, the Old Appeal Court opposite their offices which is being squatted by immigrants and is being vilified by the bourgeois press.

The same day, the Pakistani Community denounced yet another incident of institutionalised stripping and torture committed by the fascist greek police in the island of Simi. For 8 hours Wassim Sanjat, Mazhjar Ali and Mohamet Ali were tortured: cops tortured Wassim by “placing a gun on his head, beating him with a glob and iron stick on the soles of his feet (a torture loved by the junta called phallanga) and on his bottom and stripping him again and again. The other two persons were severely beaten. The Pakistani Community demands the immediate punishment of the torturers-policemen.

In the early hours of Sunday 12/7 strong riot police forces surrounded the big Afghan immigrant settlement in Patras, cordoning off the area. The riot policemen then moved to evacuate the thousands of asylum seekers using maximum force, while bulldozers moved in to demolish their houses.During the evacuation operations, the settlement was ‘mysteriously’ set on fire, and torched to the ground. The settlement is believed to have been housing more than 2,000 Afghans and has been repeatedly targeted by fascists receiving the solidarity of a wide spectrum of progressive social forces in the city of Patras. The Red Cross has condemned the evacuation and torching of the settlement as ‘terrorist’. The Communist Party (KKE) has condemned the attack as barbaric and the Coalition of Radical Left as ‘beastial’ and ‘criminal’. The evacuated immigrants are held in concentration centers of zero hygienic facilities, host to continuing greek police torture and brutality.

[clandestinenglish note: minors from the camp are said to be transferred to Konitsa, Epirus, at a center for unaccompanied minors.   At this center young Afghans had been hunger striking for better condiutions - see  Afghan adolescents hunger-strike for better conditions at Konitsa, Epirus care center.]

The nazification of the Greek state which is endorsing parastate groups to ‘clean and patrol’ areas comes in a climate of acute social antagonistic upheaval. Besides the continuing resistance locals of Grammaticos villages who rose against the construction of an open refuse dump in their area, erecting barricades and clashing with the police, last week saw a series of dynamic antifascist antiracist protest marches against State-nazi attacks against immigrants. At the same time, on the early hours of Saturday the house of the ex-Minister of Public Order (active during the December Uprising and Alexis Grigoropoulos assassination by the police) and ex-chief of the Greek Army, General Hinophotis, was bombed with a strong explosive device after prior warning call to the press. A few hours later earlier yet another armed attack against riot police forces occurred near the HQ of PASOK with no victims On the early morning Sunday, following the surge of State-fascist attacks the HQ camp of the riot police (MAT) in Athens came under attack by protesters which piled the riot policemen with stones leading to a half hour battle.

19 Pakistani detainees in Glyfada police station go on hunger strike

translation from athens indymedia article with tvxs.gr info

19 Pakistani refugees detained in Glyfada, Athens police station have gone on hunger strike since 4 days.

They go against the common decision of  the Pakistan embassy in Athens and the Greek Ministry of Public Order to expell them.  They say their lives are at risk in Pakistan.

One of the hunger strikers, Mohammed Abbas, says that the Police beat him vehemently for refusing to sign his deportation documents.

Sweep operation in Tripolis, Peloponnese

Meanwhile, “sweep operations” are now a diffuse practice of the police even in smaller cities.  According to athens indymedia article there are 30 immigrants detained in the Tripolis, Peloponnese police stations.

Big Brother state

New Police State Regulations are introduced.   A new law has been proposed in the Parliament  introducing  DNA “banks”, the collection, that is, of DNA indices from even minor traffic offences, and the use of public space surveillance cameras data not only for the regulation of traffic, as was ostenslibly the reason for planting them in the first place, but for the prevention of crime.

info from this athens indymedia article.

Patras Refugee Camp Burned to the Ground

source: Occupied London Blog:

Sunday, July 12, 2009

(to be updated)

In the early hours of Sunday, July 12 the refugee settlement adjacent to the port of Patras was “mysteriously” set on fire during a police operation. According to eye-witness reports, the police cordoned off the area surrounding the settlement at about 5 a.m. Four greek citizens in solidarity who were near the settlement were immediately detained. Moments later the cops started ID’ing and arresting the refugees inside the camp. At the same time, a fire “mysteriously” started from one end of the settlement  – while the police were present in the settlement. The fire burnt for a few hours, destroying a large part of the settlement. The houses not burnt were demolished later.

The smoke of the fire makes it evidently clear: The greek state is resorting to totalitarian, fascist practices as a last resort to cover up the lack of whatever legitimacy it previously enjoyed – and to desperately grip control of the situation. Through the flames, we can see: The state’s “social peace” is war; the tranquility and quiet safeguarded by the ”ordinary people just doing their job”, is death.

relevant bbc video at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8146597.stm