Archive for the 'Detention' Category

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Demands from Pagani

Demands passed to us today at Pagani

Prologue to the Lesvos Noborder camp

Released Pagani migrants and No Borders activists together drive Frontex away Today in the port of Mitilini, Lesvos a demonstration was held concerning the refugees recently released from the detention centre in Pagani with no means to support themselves. A symbolic blockade took place to show that while holidaymakers come and go freely, many migrants are trapped on Lesvos in a situation of complete destitution. Leaflets (pdf: gr, en) were distributed to hundreds of passing tourists and locals in several languages explaining the situation the migrants are facing.

This action was a reaction to the dismissive release of a group of 38 migrants from the Pagani detention centre on Thurday. The plenary of the Noborder camp decided not only to attempt to meet the basic needs of the migrants by inviting them to come to the noborder camp but also to make their situation visible to the local population and to increase pressure on the local authorities to provide a real solution.

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NoBorder Camp in Action now

In this very moment, activists from the noborder camp gather in Mytiline to protest against the treatment of refugees in Lesvos. A particular concern is the situation of the refugees released from Pagani two days ago, who cannot leave the island but also don’t have any accomodation or other means zo sustain themselves.

We demand the immediate closure of Pagani and that the responsible authorities provide shelter and food to the refugees they threw into the streets.

Follow this action at our twitter-feed at twitter.com/noborderlesvos.

Refugees released from Pagani yesterday night

We already posted that information once, but now we know more and want to publish a follow-up report.

Yesterday, at least 38 refugees were released from Pagani at night. They obtained the “white paper” but didn’t get a ticket for a ferry to the mainland. Nor did they receive any other means of supporting themselves. Consequence is that they are now stuck in Lesvos, they spent their night at the port.

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Inside Pagani

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.

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Noborder takes to the headlines

We have great media echo about yesterdays demonstration, the island press picked up the issue of the unbearable conditions at Pagani. Today, we are front page on both newspapers, who report very objectively about what is going on in Pagani. But see for yourselves.

Letters from Pagani

We received these two letters today:

Prisoners requesting Freedom to the Society of Greece

First we would like to thank the people as well as the government of Greece. We the prisoners we are suffering a lot of problems, to mention some of them:

  • Health Problems due to lack of sanitation. Such as skin diseases and diarrhea
  • We the teenagers are around 300, having hardship times because the dimensions of the rooms is too small. As a result, we are forced to sleep on the ground without blankets.
  • We didn’t expect such jail room from the government of Greece., treating teenagers in such a way

So as to conclude we are requesting the government of Greece, international community, European Union, human righters, UNHCR, UNICEF and all the remaining NGOs to make a solution as soon as possible just to get our freedom.

Thank you for your care.
Asodii – Azada

FREEDOM!

Prisoners.

Thanks again.

We have a lot of problems in this jail.

  • We have health problems like stress, skin diseases, heart problems, blood pressure, diabetes, but we didn’t get good care (just as animals)
  • We have no facilities of taking shower, WC. It’s hard to make conclusion of our problems by qaiting our bad situations. So till waiting for your great help
  • Every moment due to great stress a lot of prisoners cry every second and as a [?] they need to make suicides

So please don’t go out of this compound until we get our freedom.

Thanks a lot.

Voices from the Inside of Pagani Detention Centre

Hunger Strike at Pagani Detention Centre

Unaccompanied Minors in the detention centre Pagani, august 20, 2009 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.

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Brief report from the field: Pagani emergency

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.

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About w2eu

This is the blog of the antiracist network Welcome to Europe. It was formerly known as lesvos09.antira.info.

 

The name Welcome to Europe expresses the discontent and anger we feel when looking at the fatal realities of the European external border: the long documented deaths and suffering have continued for years, and no end is in sight. We stand for a grassroots movement that embraces migration and wants to create a Europe of hospitality.

 

We maintain our focus on the European external border in Greece, but will not limit ourselves to that geographical area. The right of freely roaming the globe has to be fought for everywhere. Join us!

 

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Voices from the Inside of Pagani (2009)

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