This report about a new revolt just reached us:
Today (19.10.2009) around 3 o’clock pm, prisoners in Pagani set fire to at least two cells. They protest against their continued detention, and especially against the principle that some prisoners are released after a few weeks while other are imprisoned for much longer. They also continue to protest against the unbearable living conditions inside the prison.
They say that right about now, 900 people are imprisoned in Pagani, including youth. There is the case of a young afghan boy of about 12 years who received his release papers while his father is still imprisoned. So he also needs to stay inside. More youth have been spotted amongst the prisoners.
The fire was quite strong, which made a large intervention of the fire brigade necessary. Two refugees fainted, and another six were beaten so badly by the notorious anti-riot police that they need to be admitted to hospital. We’re trying to organise photos documenting this.
At about 6 pm, the fire was out, the injured had been brought to the hospital, and supporters started to arrive. The prisoners were still inside the yard, telling a lot of stories. One of them explained that he had been imprisoned for over four months. Others told that they mothers, wives and sisters had been released earlier and have gonbe to Athens, so they are worried about them being well. It seems that the prisoners will spend the night in the yard.
We also saw two prisoners who had been injured during their flight and who have not received any treatment so far.
Update 1: Another friend wrote to let us know:
After the previous revolt, the police told the prisoners that in any revolt they were going to arrest two prisoners each time. They don’t care if these prisoners have any relation with the revolts or not. And they did it the previous time: they arrested two prisoners in the previous revolt. They kept the one of them for some days in the jail and then they sent him back to Pagani, but until now we don’t know where is the other one. About today’s revolt, I don’t know if they have arrested any people or not yet…
We have an image gallery:
