EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GREECE-PROTEST Greeks rally outside EU offices in Athens calling for migrant policy change

Record ID: 134893

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GREECE-PROTEST Greeks rally outside EU offices in Athens calling for migrant policy change
  • Date: 15th October 2015
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (OCTOBER 15, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CARRYING FLAGS AND BANNERS MARCHING IN THE STREETS VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING WHILE CHANTING IN FAVOUR OF MIGRANTS AND AGAINST FASCISM WOMAN PROTESTER CARRYING BANNER READING (Greek): "MIGRANTS IN" PROTESTERS MARCHING OUTSIDE THE OFFICES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION IN ATHENS / GREEK FLAG AND EU FLAG WAVING IN
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA64WKL1R388ODI9DIRNWAO5ZTW
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Greeks, including students, workers and human rights activists, took to the streets of Athens on Thursday (October 15) to rally against the European Union's policy on migration.
    Protesters carrying flags and banners marched to European Union offices in the Greek capital, calling for policy changes, as EU leaders were holding talks in Brussels on how to tackle the continent's worst migration crisis since World War Two.
    "The EU summit right now clashes directly with the intentions of all the European people. From Athens to Glasgow, people are rallying in support of refugees. EU leaders are ignoring all these people," said Panos Garganas, an activist who took part in the march.
    Thousands of refugees, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, attempt to cross the Aegean Sea on a daily basis from nearby Turkey on rubber dinghy boats, a short but perilous trip often in rough seas.
    Seven people drowned earlier on Thursday, among them three children and a baby, after their wooden boat and a coast guard vessel crashed during a migrant rescue operation off the island of Lesbos.
    The deaths prompted protesters to call for a safer passage for all migrants who wish to enter Europe from Greece.
    "Today we demonstrate in solidarity with refugees. Forty seven unions have decided to demonstrate today to say that we need to open the borders, to stop the fence, to bring down the fence in Evros (Greek-Turkish land borders) so that we create a safe passage for the refugees from Syria, Afghanistan to pass through the country and go wherever they want in Europe," said 28 year-old protester Katerina Papadouli.
    Almost 400,000 people have arrived in Greece this year, according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, overwhelming the crisis-stricken government's ability to cope.
    Frontex said on Tuesday that 710,000 migrants have entered the European Union so far in 2015 without the right documents or via illegal entry points.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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