The Chania hunger strike’s outcomes….Friday the 5th of December events…

Late in the evening on Friday, the 5th of December, or the 25th day of the hunger strike, the Ministry Of Interior Affairs promised that the hunger strikers be granted residence permits on “exceptional grounds”.

This Friday was a long one….

the ministry of interior protest

Since the morning, the planned demonstration and protest, organised by the Initiative for Solidarity and student unions, had been demanding in front of the Ministry of Interior Affairs that the Minister receives a delegation of the hunger strike… of course, riot police had also been there since early enough…at some point the Ministry leaked that a meeting would take place at 7 pm …the protesters had made it clear that they wouldn’t leave the place in any other case….

A protest gathering took place in Patras as well, in front of the local municipality’s foreigners’ desk..

Patras' protest

Late in the afternoon, and a few miles away from the Ministry protest, migrants and activists in solidarity with them gathered at Petrou Ralli ave.. We will be writing soon in this blog about the protests taking place there every Friday for some weeks now; this Friday’s protest had the additional message of solidarity with the hunger stike.

banner at the Petrou Ralli protest

Traffic in this important road artery of the capital was cut off due to the barricades the protesters put up. This lasted for some hours, with the number of people increasing. In the Aegaleo Intitiative of Anarchists words, this protest was “a message of love and courage to the Chania hunger strikers”.