Racist Attack Update
Published by deviousdiva December 7th, 2007 in Racism.From the International Herald Tribune
Rights activists say Greek neo-Nazis increasing attacks on migrants
ATHENS, Greece: Neo-Nazi groups have stepped up attacks on foreigners in Greece, human rights activists said Wednesday after five Pakistanis were injured by racists last week.
“There has been an escalation in racist violence, to an extent unknown in previous years, with a constant string of incidents,” said Giorgos Goudounas, a lawyer for the Pakistani community in Athens.
He was speaking at a news conference on what community officials say was an attack on Friday by 25 neo-Nazis on a western Athens house rented by Pakistani migrant workers. Five Pakistanis were injured, and one remains in hospital in serious condition.
Greece does not have a tradition of racist violence, although small neo-Nazi groups have repeatedly vandalised Jewish sites in the country.
One of the five injured men said the Greek-speaking youths entered the house after kicking in the door and a window, and started hitting them with clubs and crowbars.
“When the police came more than an hour later, their first question was whether we had residence permits,” said Faisal Mahmut, 30.
Yiannis Sifakakis, spokesman for the left-wing Stop The War group, claimed that police initially discouraged the injured men from pressing charges against their assailants, relenting when the attack was reported on television. No arrests have been made.
Police denied that officers had delayed in responding to the “serious incident.”
“A preliminary investigation is under way, and all action is being taken to identify and locate the perpetrators,” a police statement said.
A similar attack — without injuries — took place in western Athens in October, according to the Pakistani community in Greece.
Community leader Javed Aslam said Pakistanis in the capital have repeatedly been targeted in recent months, while a mosque used by the community had its windows broken.
Aslam spearheaded claims that a group of Pakistani immigrants in Greece were abducted by Greek and British secret agents after the 2005 London transit bombings. Greece and Britain have denied the allegations.
On Sunday, the Pakistani community and human rights groups are organizing an anti-racist rally in western Athens.
Technorati: greece, racist attack, pakistani, neo-nazi, racism
I know a man who coordinates with both the Indian and Pakistani community and he told me that the Pakistanis have a much, much harder time getting any papers processed as compared to the Indians. He blamed the racial/national profiling introduced after 9/11 which is used by security forces the world over and for the Greek security forces before the 2004 Olympics.
The attitude of the police is not surprising, police are that way the world over. Let’s hope something gets done.
Greece is a multicultural society now with over 100 different nationalities possibly nearing two hundred different nationalities. Immigrant kids have grown up in Greece. They consider Greece their home and rightfully so. For Greece to have just recently have seen this phenomena of violent racism against newly arrived immigrants esp from asia, could mean that these young people Neo Nazis or whatever could have been influenced from a different background. I’m not here to find excuses for Greeks. But with so many different races calling Greece their new home some tensions could be there. Young kids from immigrant backgrounds speak better Greek than the Greeks themselves.
COMMENT DELETED BY DEVIOUS DIVA
Diva, I saw the Athens News from Friday had a great article proving how the Greeks discriminate against foreigners (Albanians mostly) trying to rent apartment. Shocking. You should pick it up or wait til (tomorrow) Tuesday and access the Athens News site at
http://www.athensnews.gr/
The article was geared towards their discrimination towards not renting to Albanians and overcharging Albanians, but I remember in the early 80s, the same Greeks were overcharging Americans from the military base in Glyfada also. It was always so funny to see two different menus at Tavernas.
“The Greek menu and the American menu”
I’d always ask for the Greek menu if I thought the prices were too high.
And finally, as a way to really mess with those racist Greek landlords, what every foreigner should do is find a nice Greek friend to call about the place they wish to rent, and say he (she) would like to see it, and then show up with their foreign friend, and if the landlord waffles on the deal, then you simply have your Greek friend say he/she works for one of the TV channels and this event will make for good fodder.
Thank you for the heads up George. I will check the online edition.
Thanks for the tip too! The love of my life did that when he first moved here (he arrived before me). He went with a Greek friend. He told me that several people they saw were dubious (to say the least) about foreigners renting their house. The story turned out well though. We ended up with the most wonderful landlady you could possibly wish for who became the kids Greek grandma (he has several now!)
Did you read my post on our recent house-hunting experience?
http://deviousdiva.com/2007/02/17/678/