Solidarity demonstration for migrants in Eidomeni

Tuesday December 1st, Thessaloniki (Kamara, 18:00)

Idomeni: tension increasing, hunger strike continues

Tension increasing in  Idomeni. Today, early in the morning -3:00 am-, and at 4:00 pm in the afternoon, hundreds of migrants tried to cross the border by pushing Rep. of Macedonia riot police and soldiers.
One person was injured and taken by ambulance to the hospital of Kilkis. Some people managed to cross the border, but after a wile 7 of them (perhaps all of them) were returned to Greece.
The hunger strike continues, as the 10 Iranian hunger strikers are guarded by other immigrants from Iran. Right now the number of hunger strikers with sewn mouths is reduced to six.

Hunger strike in Eidomeni

One Iranian has sewed his mouth. The total number of migrants participating in the hunger strike is still unclear.
The number of migrants who are not allowed to pass the borders is from 1,500 up to 2,000, as more migrants who are not allowed to pass keep arriving with buses from Athens. In order to return them to Athens, the drivers ask to be paid a 50 euros ticket.

Photos from Eidomeni

 

Today at 12 a.m, a pakistani guy tried TO HANG HIMSELF on the tree.
His friends took him down.
video from Liša Helle

Rep. of Macedonia erects fence, borders closed

Tension has gripped the neutral zone between Greece and Rep. of Macedonia since yesterday, as the refugees and migrants there have been informed that only citizens of Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq will be entitled to pass freely from now on.

This morning about 100 Iranians were near the neutral zone and begged to be allowed to cross the border, resulting in the Macedonian authorities closing the border shortly after 8:00 am.

Croatian Minister of Interior Ranko Ostojić confirmed on Thursday, November 19, 2015 that Croatia is closing its borders for economic migrants. Refugees from Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Afghanistan will still be accepted and registered before they continue their journey to Slovenia and further on to their final destination.

This decision comes as a chain reaction since the same measure was implemented last night and early this morning by Serbia and Macedonia. Slovenia has also closed its borders for economic migrants and already tried to send 162 people back to Croatia, all of them coming from countries that are not considered war zones (Morocco, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Liberia). Croatia denied the request so those migrants are still in Slovenia.

Rep. of Macedonia has started to place barbed wire along the border with Greece in implementing the decision of the security council.

The workers are preparing the terrain with bulldozers and tractors, opening holes in which iron columns for the wire fence will be placed. This will close the main passage for those refugees and migrants who arrive in the country from Greece. The fence will be erected on the railway line in the village of Idomeni, near the shore of the river Axios, and it will cover a distance of 1.5 km. The installation work is carried out by members of the military.

According to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, a possible permanents closure of the border between Greece and Rep. of Macedonia will direct the refugee flood to the “route crossing the Danube”, which includes Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia. He recalls that the Prime Ministers of the three countries have recently met in Sofia and announced that, in the presence of such a possibility, they will close their state borders too.

9 dead and 7 missing in a new shipwreck

Nine immigrants drowned and seven were missing after their inflatable boat sank off the Greek island of Kos early on Tuesday. Seven people were rescued.

Huge solidarity banner

Thessaloniki: Huge banner by the “No Lager” assembly on the facade of the Labor Center during todays general strike.
On the banner is written: ‘Drownings at the borders are murders committed by the Greek state and Fortress Europe. Stop war on migrants”.

Something or Nothing: Helping Refugees on Samos

Source: https://samoschronicles.wordpress.com/

There has been so little time to stop and think. Since May this year the daily arrival of refugees coming to Samos across the sea from Turkey has transformed the daily lives of many here. The scale of this flow of humanity is hard to grasp. Everything seems to change. You look differently at the sea and sky now worrying about the waves and the wind. Above all you are endlessly alert, for although you know there are going to be arrivals you never know when, where or in what circumstances. If you can, you go down to the landings. This is a very critical time for the refugees. You can’t hang around. Especially now when the weather and sea at night is much colder than during the summer months. But also because now we are seeing many more babies, young children, pregnant women, older and disabled people amongst the refugees. They are vulnerable and find the sea journey and all that it entails waiting in the forests and shores of Turkey very difficult.

The reason we think and act as we do has one very simple explanation. We are human. How is it possible to be human and do nothing? Every day we see people who have suffered and are still suffering. People who are forced to face danger in order to find safety. It is beyond wrong.

From the ‘system’ nothing has been provided for the welfare of the refugees arriving on Samos. NOTHING!

4 more dead in another shipwreck in the Aegean

At least 18 people lost their lives today in the Aegean… In the morning, 14 migrants died 4 miles from Lesvos. In the afternoon, in another shipwreck, near Izmir this time, 4 more migrants died and two are missing…

Members of the Communist Party of Greece evict refugees’ squat in Lesvos!

Yesterday, November 10, members of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), playing the role of the Riot Police, evacuated by force a squat for temporary accommodation of refugees/migrants. The former “workers’ center” building was occupied on November 7, 2015 by refugees and greeks in solidarity to them. It had been empty for many years, but the Communist Party (who controls Mytilene workers’ center) was using it as storeroom.

Refugees and immigrants are obliged to sleep in the streets of Lesvos island, while they are waiting for the papers to travel to Athens and from there to the north of the European Union.

On this video you can see the reactions of the people in solidarity following the evacuation of the squat.