Children on Hunger Strike

From the International Herald Tribune

Greece should improve conditions at an island detention center for scores of children who arrived as illegal immigrants this year, an aid group said Friday.

A total 121 children aged 10 to 16 are being held in cramped conditions on the small eastern Aegean Sea island of Leros, the France-based group Medecins du Monde said. Their number is constantly growing. The center only holds children who entered the country illegally without their parents.

Philippos Olympitis, a member of the agency’s Greek branch, said small groups of children recently staged rolling hunger strikes at the center, which only takes youngsters, for up to two days each, demanding to be moved from Leros to Athens or other cities.

“This is their only weapon, what else can they do, set themselves on fire?” Olympitis told The Associated Press from Leros. “Conditions are terrible. They’re all crammed together.”

Government officials were not immediately available for comment.

Read the full article here.

Technorati: greece, children, migrants, hunger strike