GREECE: Hundreds of Illegal immigrants squatting in courthouse in the heart of Athens

Record ID: 348422

  • Title: GREECE: Hundreds of Illegal immigrants squatting in courthouse in the heart of Athens
  • Date: 9th May 2009
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (MAY 8, 2009) (REUTERS) BUILDING, (IN MIDDLE) PREVIOUS ATHENS COURT OF APPEALS, OCCUPPIED BY THE IMMIGRANTS, SURROUNDED BY OTHER OFFICES AND COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS AS BUSY ATHENS TRAFFIC PASSES BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS STANDING ON BALCONIES OF BUILDING IMMIGRANTS LOOK OUT FROM BALCONIES AS THEIR CLOTHES AND BLANKETS HANG OVER THE BALCONIES IMMIGRANTS AT ENTRANCE
  • Embargoed: 24th May 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAAUIL11SJDEOBFRE71DDNQMDOG
  • Story Text: Hundreds of illegal immigrants have taken over a closed courthouse in the heart of Athens city centre next to other busy commercial buildings, aid groups said on Friday (May 8) as the problem to accommodate illegal immigrants increases in the capital.
    Aid group Doctors of the World set up a mobile health unit at the old Athens appeals courthouse, where more than 500 illegal immigrants, mainly from Asia and the Middle East, are squatting, surrounded by offices and businesses.
    The eight-floor building was closed in 2000 after the court moved to another location, but is now to be repaired and rented out.
    The immigrants, who have no legal papers, refuse to leave saying they have nowhere to go, and face being removed by force by the authorities.
    Immigrant aid groups have been trying to clean and sanitise the building, and have appealed to authorities to let the immigrants stay at least until proper accomodation is found for them.

    "We are asking that they are not thrown out like the garbage; the problem of their accomodation must be solved first. We are asking that they are given legal papers, like other migrants, so they can search for a decent job and live a decent life, without fear of being harrassed by police,"
    said aid worker, Thanasis Kourkoulas.
    The owners of the building have cut off the water and electricity in the building, and immigrants are sleeping amongst dirt, garbage and their own waste. They have made the old offices of the courthouse their bedrooms, filled with blankets on the filthy floors, camping cookers to make meals, and washing clothes lines hanging across the rooms.
    The government has been studying plans to transfer the illegal immigrants to an abandoned military base outside Athens, which has drawn sharp critisism from the aid groups.

    "There seems to be this preferred policy to arrest and warehouse all these people outside the city centre, without taking them and their feelings into consideration. This is not a solution, simply because first of all it's inhuman and barbaric to create a storehouse for people," said aid worker George Maniatis.
    Last year at least 146,00 illegal immigrants crossed Greece's border, and authorities have been unable to cope with the increasing influx. Some shelters exist but they are nowhere near enough for the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants.
    Many come to downtown Athens, where hundreds cram into overcrowded small apartments, basements, or abandoned buildings, without proper sanitation or infrastructure. Several become involved in criminal activities such as drug dealing and prostitution, as obtaining work permits and legal papers take years, and are victims of racist attacks or involved in clashes with rival ethnic groups.
    The immigrants are often on the run from police, fearing deportation.
    The situation has sparked anti-racist sentiment in the city, and the central Athens neighbourhoods, where tourist hotels and businesses are located, have become ghettoised.
    With the current financial crisis analysts say the situation will worsen as more and more migrants will remain without any method to earn income.
    ath/jrc
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