GREECE: Hunger striking Afghan immigrants demand asylum outside Greek government ministry

Record ID: 340434

  • Title: GREECE: Hunger striking Afghan immigrants demand asylum outside Greek government ministry
  • Date: 19th January 2011
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (JANUARY 18, 2011) (REUTERS) AFGHANISTAN IMMIGRANTS STANDING BEHIND POLICE IN PROTEST AS POLICE BLOCK THEIR WAY TO THE MINISTRY MORE OF IMMIGRANTS BEHIND POLICE HOLDING QUIET PROTEST MORE OF IMMIGRANTS AT PROTEST WITH THEIR CHILDREN, POLICE IN FRONT VARIOUS OF THE IMMIGRANTS GATHERED FOR PROTEST ONE HUNGER STRIKER WITH A DOCTORS MASK OVER HIS MOUTH ANO
  • Embargoed: 3rd February 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece, Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA7KC7TRE5L2NYZQ18KA0XGA0C9
  • Story Text: Refugees from Afghanistan protested in front of the Citizens Protection Ministry in Athens on Tuesday (January 18), demanding political asylum.
    Six of the protesters had sown their mouths shut as part of a hunger strike as they demonstrated in front of the office responsible for immigration issues.
    Police forces surrounded the protesters and blocked them from approaching the ministry entrance. A representative of the group was allowed to enter the government building to submit a protest note.
    The hunger strike is part of an ongoing months-long protest by Afghan and other refugees who have been requesting political asylum.
    "We came here to represent the group, and have brought a doctor, in order to seek answers from the Citizens Protection Ministry to the request by the Afghan refugees for political asylum.These people are into their twenty-first day of a hunger strike and their lives are now in danger," said anti-racism activist Petros Constantinou, from the group, "United Against Racism", who came to represent the Afghan refugees.
    Greece has been criticized by the refugee agency UNHCR in the past for the very low and sluggish rate of processing asylum applications.
    But a new immigration law was passed in parliament on January 12 which foresees improvements in handling and processing illegal immigrants, including a more efficient process for asylum applications. Under the new law an independent asylum service is to be formed with more staff and offices in many parts of the country to speed up the applications. The UNHCR has welcomed the new law and is awaiting its implementation.
    Illegal immigrants have been victims of harassment in Athens in the last months by local residents and right wing groups in one neighborhood where scores of them have settled. On Saturday (January 15) right wing groups clashed with police as they tried to disrupt an immigrants rally.
    Government estimates are that there are some 500 thousand illegal immigrants in Greece, an overwhelming number for the small country of 11 million people, say officials.
    In 2010 ninety-percent of illegal immigrants trying to reach Europe passed from the Greek Turkish border, and in November Greece had to call for help from the European border Agency Frontex to handle the flow.
    The Citizens Protection Ministry pushed through the new legislation to better handle illegal immigration issues, and also has plans to build a fence on part of the border, which has raised some controversy even though most Greeks support it, according to a recent poll.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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