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 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.
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.
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.
Continue reading ‘Refugees released from Pagani yesterday night’
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.
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.
Prices for a taxi to the campsite (Kantina Karpuzi at Charamida)
As always: Check the page How to Lesvos for complete information. And you can always check the How To Lesvos Category for updates, also alvailable as RSS.
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 – AzadaFREEDOM!
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.
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