UNHCR GREECE PRESS REVIEW (14-21 August 2009)
Tension heightens at island detention centres
Lesvos: Some 150 unaccompanied minors went on hunger strike on 19/8, to protest the appalling conditions they are being held in the detention centre of Pagani. Among the strikers are also children under 14 years old. More than 900 persons, including 270 unaccompanied minors, are currently detained in Pagani centre, which has a capacity of 250. The children, some of them detained for almost three months, had released a letter denouncing the deplorable conditions in which they stay, including ill-treatment by the police, unclean water, diseases and no access to the yard.
The tension in Pagani is still escalating since yesterday’s rebellion, when 930 detainees, including women and children, went on hunger strike demanding their release, hanging on balusters and crying for freedom. A video camera, passed to unaccompanied minors through balusters, recorded the chamber’s interior where 160 people are sleeping, two or even three together, in a pile of bunk beds or in layers on the floor. In shocking scenes that have been uploaded on the internet, children with severely wounded legs claim that there is no medical treatment. A thirteen year old boy who had been complaining of intense pain for three days, collapsed and had to be immediately transferred to the hospital of Mytilini. Another tragic incident involves a Somali pregnant woman close to term, found lying down in the courtyard of the centre. The young woman refuses to be transferred to the hospital in protest that her underage children are kept in Pagani, and she does not want to be away from them.
The Ministry of Health responded to the minors cry for help by initiating their transfer to Agiasos centre for unaccompanied minors on Lesvos island and other centres around Greece. According to lawyer Dimitris Sarantides, however, this is not possible since all centres suggested by the Ministry are already overcrowded. In an agonizing letter addressed to the Interior and Finance Ministers the deputy Prefect of Lesvos, Stavros Psaropoulos, described in detail the conditions created by the dramatic increase of the number of migrants in the centre and also the serious economic problem the Prefecture is facing, as the debt towards the suppliers exceeds the amount of two million euros. If this situation continues we will have eventually to close the detention centre stressed Mr. Psaropoulos.
(combined reports: Rizospastis 15 August, www.tvxs.gr, 20 August / Eleftherotypia, 19 August / Eleftherotypia, 18 & 21 August, Ta Nea, Avgi 21 August)
Samos: Some 100 irregular migrants disembarked on the island of Samos on 18/9, thus augmenting to 625 the number of those detained in the Centre with a capacity for 280. Clashes among migrants also occurred and the police intervened in order to calm the situation. The reason for the clashes was that some Muslim migrants said to the Prefecture that they did not want to be given any food in view of the Ramadan but the decision was not unanimous and frictions ensued.
(Eleftherotypia, 20 August, 19 August)
Chios: Migrants held in Mersinidi Centre protested intensely on 19/8 against the conditions they are held in, the delay in granting asylum to refugees and the strengthening of police measures. Kurdish refugees from Turkey have been on hunger strike for three days, while on 19/8 another 80 migrants (Afghans, Somalis, Palestinians, etc.) refused to receive any food. According to a communist party delegation that visited Mersinidi, measures to control the migrants are extremely strict while double-wire fencing has been raised around the centre.
(Rizospastis, 14 &20 August)
Please note that UNHCR bears no responsibility for the accuracy and content of the press summary, which is based on external news services and does not necessarily reflect the views of UNHCR.
Please also see this from NoBorder Camp Lesvos 2009:
This video shows the inhumane conditions in one room in Pagani Detention Centre. In this one space live about 160 obviously young refugees, some of them have been there for over 100 days. Pagani has a capacity for 280 people, but right now, over 800 people, amongst them 300 minors, are crammed into the facility. They share one toilet in each room. Access to basic necessities is very restricted, medical aid is totally insufficient.
On 18 August 2009, 160 minors started a hunger strike to fight for their immediate freedom. We supported their hunger strike today with a solidarity demonstration at the site and in the city of Mytiline. All detained refugees were shouting “freedom, freedom”.
The demonstration took place five days before the opening of the noborder camp in Lesvos 2009. The situation of refugees in Greece in particular and the conditions at the european external border in general will be the focus of the camp. There will be further actions during the week. Follow us at http://lesvos09.antira.info or on our twitter-feed at http://twitter.com/noborderlesvos
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