Infomoblie:.w2eu.: A massive police raid in Idomeni put a temporary end to legal border crossings from Greece towards Northern Europe
http://infomobile.w2eu.net/2015/12/10/police-raid-in-idomenirefugees-trapped-in-athens-now/
++Police raid in Idomeni++Refugees trapped in Athens now++
Published on December 10, 2015 in Uncategorized. Closed
“Do we look like animals or why do they play with our lives?”
A massive police raid in Idomeni put a temporary end to legal border
crossings from Greece towards Northern Europe
11bHundreds of refugees were transferred by busses to Athens from the
border city Idomeni, near FYROM (Former Republic of Macedonia),
following a massive police raid with more than 350 officers
participating that took place on Wednesday December 9, 2015. Many
refugees had been waiting and protesting for more than two weeks along
the new barbed wire fence, while only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans were
allowed to cross since November 19. Around 1,200 refugees from more than
19 nationalities had remained in the provisory tent camp the last days
“united”, as they claimed in gratifies for the right to a safe passage.
As the border got partly closed and nationalities filtered in the ones
allowed to cross and the rest, the situation had escalated with the
Macedonian police using rubber bullets, tear gas and other forms of
violence against anyone trying to cross. Dozens of refugees started
started hunger strikes to protest the discrimination, as few of which
even sew their mouths. A young Moroccan died during protests as he got
electro shocked accidentally. In the peak of clashes between the
Macedonian police and the desperate refugees, many big humanitarian
organizations left the field “for their own security”, temporarily
leaving alone refugees and activists alike to cope with the experienced
violence, the following injuries and confront harsh living conditions.
Only a day later Frontex accepted Greece’s request to deploy Rapid
Border Intervention Teams (RABIT) on the Greek islands in the Aegean to
assist the country in dealing with the record number of migrants coming
to its shores.
Massive police raid far from the eyes of the public
14bAlready on Tuesday activists informed that there were civil police
checking the tents and counting people in order to prepare for their
expulsion. The next day, no journalist, no volunteers and no NGO
employees were allowed to be present when the police operation started
in the early morning hours. Four journalists were even temporarily
arrested as they were on scene. The only reliable information from then
on came from the refugees themselves. “The police came early in the
morning when there were no journalists with cameras around. They forced
violently the single men to get out of their tents and enter the buses,”
a young woman from Yemen said, who just arrived with her family to the
Tae Kwon Do stadium in the district Palaio Faliro, one of three
temporary accommodation sites the government provided for in Athens
which was a 2004 Olympic Games venue. She is looking for a way to move
to the open camp Eleonas because the huge gym is overcrowded and noisy.
Living conditions there are hard to cope with specifically for her as a
woman and her small children.
A couple of tweets referred to police beatings during the raid.
Bordermonitoring.eu also reporting live from Idomeni and the forced
eviction stated that a couple of refugees were shouting ” We don’t go
back!” while police also cut some tents open to get people out by force.
According to them police used violence also against families including
children.
“Europe doesn’t leave us any legal and safe option to get out!”
12b Two single women also from Yemen are standing on the street in front
of the stadium looking scared. “We cannot sleep there. We are afraid.
There are so many men inside and we are alone”. All refugees are
exhausted and hungry. Many are searching in mini markets near the
stadium to find something to eat. Confronted with the harsh situation in
the provisory sleeping facilities hundreds of refugees left looking for
alternative stays in informal hotels run by conditionals in the centre
of the city. The ones who have some money left will try to find
smugglers and find another way to exit Greece. After more than 14 days
in Idomeni suffering under the unbearable cold, police violence on the
border, hunger and lack of any human sanitary infrastructure none of
them wants to give up. “Giving up is no option. We escaped our homes to
reach safety, humanity, respect, a possibility to live, to feed our
children, to go to school… Simple thinks you may think, but not for
someone who comes from war,” said a young Palestinian. “We are forced to
get in contact with the Mafia in Athens in order to travel to Europe.
What else can we do?” says Jassar a man from Iran. “Europe does not
leave us any legal and safe option to get out! Even if this way is
expensive and dangerous, we have to take it.”
Some meters behind him Sarom is standing with his family. He also just
left the stadium and is looking for a taxi that could bring him to a
hotel in the city center. “We are so tired. We have to rest in order to
be able and think. In order to plan our next step”, he says. According
to media reports up to 37 buses left Idomeni on Wednesday transporting
more than 1.800 refugees and migrants in total to the capital. The Tae
Kwon Do Stadium has a capacity of maximal 1, 700 persons. On Tuesday
there were already 750 people. Journalists and activists are not allowed
to enter. In the entrance of the camp the responsible hang a list
documented actual needs: food, shoes and clothes. The refugees have to
sleep on the floor lying on blankets. Three meals per day are prepared
by the Greek army and volunteers. According to the responsible of this
place, there is 24 hours a day a doctor present. Refugees complained
that the toilets and showers were dirty and that they weren’t provide
with sufficient food and clothes. There is also a lack of information
about their rights and possibilities, about the asylum procedure,
organizations that could support them etc.
During the night and after putting almost 2,000 people in the stadium
conflicts rose among the pounded humans and riot police used violence to
take control of the situation according to social media. Half of the
refugees left the camp because there was not enough beds and food.
Asylum in Greece is no alternative as long as there are not even
opportunities to survive in Greece
Greek Migration Minister Mouzalas stated recently that the refugees
brought back from Idomeni would have three options: either applying for
asylum, voluntary return or deportation. But staying in Greece is no
alternative to any of the refugees who face huge obstacles to survive
harsh living conditions in Greece – be it in Idomeni, Athens or elsewhere.
Currently, it takes 4-6 months to receive an answer for the asylum
application. The Asylum Service in Athens has not enough staff and is
still working mainly with a Skype process for making appointments
limited to certain languages that are available. This dysfunctional
system will be even more ineffective if now with the returning refugees
and the closing of the border numbers of applicants might rise. Even for
the asylum applicants there are not sufficient reception places
available. Only unaccompanied minors, families with children and other
vulnerable persons have a chance to get state funded housing provided.
The UNHCR is planning to provide 20.000 places “soon”, but the procedure
of finding adequate places and build up new reception centers seems to
last very long in practice.
5bMore than that on Thursday 10, the European Commission adopted
infringement decisions concerning Greece and other EU Member States for
failing to fully transpose and implement the Common European Asylum
System. It specifically urged Greece, Croatia and Italy to correctly
implement the Eurodac Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 603/2013), which
provides for effective fingerprinting of asylum seekers and transmission
of data to the Eurodac central system within 72 hours. The Commission is
also urging Greece and Malta to communicate the national measures taken
to fully transpose the Asylum Procedures Directive (Directive
2013/32/EU), which sets out common procedures for granting and
withdrawing international protection, and the Reception Conditions
Directive (Directive 2013/33/EU), which deals with access to reception
conditions for asylum seekers while they wait for examination of their
applications.
Government puts a focus on voluntary returns and deportations
On Tuesday employees of the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) went to the stadium to advertise the offer of a voluntary return
with a 400 Euro bonus for each return program attendant. Actually, as
the employee informed the refugees many of the nationalities present
here cannot participate in the program as in their home countries their
is war. Only the Moroccans for example get an offer. Yet, no one is
considering staying in Greece as a feasibly choice. With a half decade
of economic crisis the country has a high unemployment rate and almost
no welfare system. There are no means to integrate so far. On Wednesday
the government decided to give work permits to those with a 6-month
tolerance document in Greece. “This would be at least a first step,”
says Francis a refugee from Somalia. He is asking how much is the daily
salary in Greece. “We have to work. There is no other way for us to
survive here. The problem is there is no work we can find.”
Insufficient, temporary and provisory the housing solutions
Except the stadium in Palaio Faliro, there is currently also a stadium
in Elliniko with a capacity for maximal 500 persons and the open camp of
Elaionas with a capacity of 700. Ellinikon was supposed to close in
October but instead even two new tents were set up leading to the public
protest declaration of four mayors of Attica region. In the latter
mainly families are placed and other vulnerable cases. The government
announced the soon opening of other accommodation places near
Thessaloniki. Former military camps are planned to be transformed in
provisory shelters in the area by the government. Meanwhile solidarity
structures are creating alternative stays in squatted buildings. After
Notara Squat in Exarhia Athens, also in Thessaloniki an former orphanage
got occupied recently.
Situation at the Tae Kwon Do Stadium
12309604_1094979893869552_134676333970549325_oOther than housing, the
refugees that were brought from Idomeni to Athens will soon face a much
more severe problem. On December 17th the stadium in Palaio Faliro has
to get emptied as it is rented for a sports game. The government didn’t
yet announce where the currently sheltered will be brought next.
Activists fear that many of them will end up homeless in the streets of
Athens. “Do we look like animals or why do they play with our lives,” a
Palestinian from Lebanon asks rhetorically. He also sleeps in the big
stadium and doesn’t have any idea how to survive in Greece or how to get
out of it. With the 30 days of legal stay in Greece or respectively the
six months suspension of deportation for Syrians, Somalis and some other
nationalities, all refugees got on their official notes upon arrival and
a limited time frame until they get undocumented. Days are passing by
without any way left to exit the crisis ridden country, so many refugees
find themselves now trapped in limbo. They soon might face the problem
of getting undocumented and in danger of imprisonment. As Mr.
Papadopoulos the General Secretary of the Migration Ministry stated in
an interview: “And then there are also still the pre-removal detention
centers….”
photo credits: Chrissi Wilkens, Vasilis Tsartsanis & Loukia Sougia
