A CHRONICLE OF HORROR… AND DIGNITY…

Riots, hunger strikes and death in the camps after the launching of “Xenios Zeus” operation

September 24, 2012
45 immigrants go on hunger strike at the Xanthi detention center when they learn that their detention will be prolonged for six more months. The hunger strike ended on September 28, when the authorities reassured the immigrants that they will not be kept any longer, a promise the authorities did not keep.

November 17, 2012
Hundreds of immigrants held in various detention centers go on hunger strike protesting the mistreatment of Navit Yasser, a detention center inmate who died after being denied medical care although he was in poor health.

November 18, 2012
A riot starts at the Corinth detention center, where 800 immigrants are kept prisoners. The riot was suppressed by riot police forces who have been stationed outside the detention center ever since. 10 immigrants were injured and 24 arrested.

November 23, 2012
A large riot starts at the Komotini detention center, where 500 immigrants are kept in the former Police Academy of Komotini. The detainees started by shouting slogans and smashing objects, then they started burning mattresses and attacking the police. The riot was suppressed by riot police forces.

December 4, 2012
A riot starts at the Amygdaleza detention center. The riot ends after negotiations with the authorities.

December 5, 2012
A riot starts at the Fylakio detention center. Protests by a group of prisoners escalated to a riot, suppressed by riot police.

January 1, 2013
After the brutal beating of a minor, 15 children immigrants go on hunger strike at the Amygdaleza detention center.

February 7, 2013
A riot breaks at the Fylakio detention center, because of the prolongation of detention. Many immigrants were arrested and 8 of them received what the cops called an “exemplary punishment”.

February 12, 2013
Detained immigrants go on hunger strike at the Nikaea Police Station (in Athens) protesting their filthy treatment and the beating up of an immigrant by a policeman. The hunger strike was suppressed with brutal beatings and by transferring the hunger strikers to other police departments.

February 21, 2013
A hunger strike starts at the Amygdaleza detention centre. The hunger strike was brutally suppressed on February 23 by the riot police.

March 7, 2013
A riot is attempted at the Fylakio detention centre, and is immediately suppressed by riot police.

March 28, 2013
2 immigrants threaten to commit suicide from the roof of the Corinth detention center.

April 7, 2013
3 immigrants try to commit suicide at the Amygdaleza detention center. The next day (April 8) about 1,000 migrants go on hunger strike at Amygdaleza.

April 9, 2013
Hundreds of migrants detained in various camps and police stations join the Amygdaleza hunger strike. In 24 hours the hunger strike spreads throughout the country, with about 1,800 immigrants participating.

April 10, 2013
Riot police enter the Corinth detention center, where there are immigrants participating in the nation-wide hunger strike. Riot police use teargas against the hunger strikers and arrest 47 of them. After this event, the hunger strike gradually  ceases in all detention centers.

June 23, 2013
A 20-year-old immigrant from the Ivory Coast commits suicide in the police station of Grevena, where he was held to be deported.

July 12, 2013
A 26-year-old immigrant from Pakistan hangs himself and dies in the toilet of the Servia – Kozani police station. He was arrested just because he didn’t have the proper documents.

July 27, 2013
Mohammad Hassan, an Afghan refugee suffering from a respiratory infection, dies in the concentration camp in Corinth, after being denied transfer to a hospital for eleven months.

August 10, 2013
A big revolt takes place at the Amygdaleza detention center when the arrested learn that their imprisonment will be prolonged again: now from 12 to 18 months. The immigrants torch the containers where they were being kept, attack the wardens with plastic bottles and gravel, try to break the iron doors and fences and ten of them find a way out of what they call the “Greek Guantanamo”. Many immigrants are arrested and dispersed to various prisons across the country.

August 24, 2013
A refugee from Afghanistan tries to kill himself, jumping from a second floor window at the Corinth detention center.

August 27, 2013
400 immigrants held at the Orestiada detention center go on hunger strike when they learn that their imprisonment will be prolonged from 12 to 18 months.

In the last 3-4 months, there have been dozens of suicide attempts within the detention centers and many incidents of protest, reaction and repression have been systematically concealed by the police and the government. In the last two years there have been hundreds of deaths in the Aegean and the Ionian seas, there have been hundreds of attacks on immigrants by fascists, amongst them three confirmed murders.