28 of August, or Day 4 of the noborder lesvos 09 was the action day focussing on Pagani detention centre. If you have been following us over the last days, you are familiar with what is going on there. The noborder camp was mobilising for a big demonstration to Pagani, to again demand the immediate release of all prisoners, the closure of Pagani detention centre and the abolition of detention altogether.
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In the last week over 250 migrants were released from the Pagani detention centre. They have been given 30 days to proceed with their journey. They can contact their relatives, search out possible travel connections and maybe, if they find the time, earn some money. They hope to avoid a repetition of the humiliating, dehumanising experience they had in Pagani. But its not certain. They are continuing to move into unknown territories, in which they still do not necessarily have rights.
We want to wish them a safe journey, to wish them all the best, maybe to exchange phone numbers and email addresses so to better the chance that we might meet again one day. Because today is a good day. They are moving further in the direction of where they want to be. And this is the best step towards fulfilling the promise that every migrant dreams of. And you, you can come with us. Come with us on our parade, come with us and wish those leaving goodye, goodluck and a safe and successful journey.
We here document a speech held on the farewell parade: I think we’ll need a bigger boat – The right to hope.
If you have been following our actions of the last days, you are aware about the immediate necessity to close down the detention centre of Pagani here in Lesvos. Now we call all on everybody out there, wherever you are, to take action. It is quick and easy, and you can really help to make a change: you just need to send a fax or an email.
For the last days, we have been putting up quite a fight to get Pagani, that outrageous detention centre for refugees, closed. Today saw the visit of the UNHCR director for Greece to that jail.
A small group of activists had gathered at the site. Again, loud shouts for freedom could be heard from inside as well a outside of Pagani. When the UNHCR director left, we pressed him for a statement.
Today, we were at Pagani again, although with a smaller group. The situation was a bit calmer, which greatly helped to deepen conversations with the detained migrants. Here are a couple of images which once again prove how bad it is to be in Pagani, and a short video clip we produced with different material taken inside. It shows that even youngest kids are imprisoned. You also see detained women demanding freedom, and some young men show that their room is so overcrowded that they not only sleep on the ground, but also beneath the other beds.
On 18th of August 2009, 160 unaccompanied minors detained in Pagani detention centre went on hunger strike to demand their immediate freedom. All of them are detained in just one room, where they share one toilet, many need to sleep on the floor due to lack of beds. Some of the minors are only eight or nine years old. 50 of them have been detained for over 2 months, the others have been in Pagani for several weeks already. The detention of minors is illegal under greek law.
The European elections, that took place during June 2009, brought the ultra right wing party “LAOS” to the fourth place for the first time in the recent Greek history. “LAOS” made a very open anti-migrant campaign based on the national security and immigration control. The support of this movement by the Greek media was and still is very obvious and, consequently, after the elections, the agenda that “LAOS” has set, has been adopted by several institutions and politicians across the political spectrum and mostly from the governmental parties, called “New Democracy” and “PASOK” (Greek Socialist Party).
One of the outcomes of the above mentioned conservative and xenophobic campaign was the very recent presidential decree 81/09, which assigns the examination of asylum claims exclusively to police directors. It further deprives asylum seekers of the right to have their asylum claim examined at second instance, in violation of European standards.
Continue reading ‘Brief report from the field: Pagani emergency’
This article about the practices and strategies of Frontex concerning the European sea borders was published in the brochure Frontex – Widersprüche im erweiterten Grenzraum by the “Informationsstelle Militarisierung” in German. Here is a translated version without the references included in the original article.
Frontex in the Mediterranean – Of Grey areas and legalisations of a different kind
The demonstration took place in the late afternoon. The route was from the center to the harbor, where the demonstration stopped to express loud and clear, and also written the disagreement with Frontex and the greek coast guard.
Normally Frontex and the greek coast guard have their landing here:
Voices from the Inside of Pagani (2009)
noborder09lesvos
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