Syrian refugees protest outside German embassy in Athens over family reunification

Record ID: 903362

  • Title: Syrian refugees protest outside German embassy in Athens over family reunification
  • Date: 19th July 2017
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (JULY 19, 2017) (REUTERS) DOZENS OF MIGRANT WOMEN AND CHILDREN OUTSIDE GERMAN EMBASSY VARIOUS OF WOMEN STANDING BEHIND BANNERS CHILDREN HOLDING HAND-PAINTED SIGNS AND BANNERS CHANTING: (English) "WHERE ARE YOU GO, GERMANY" CHILD HOLDING UP SIGN READING: (English) "ENOUGH WE ARE WAITING" / CHILDREN CHANTING "GERMANY" CHILDREN HOLDING UP BANNER VARIOUS OF CHILDREN CHANTING: (English) "NO MORE WAITING" CHILDREN CHANTING "NO MORE WAITING" IN FRONT OF POLICE VAN/ BOY HOLDING UP SIGN READING "ENOUGH WE ARE WAITING" VARIOUS OF GERMAN AND EU FLAG ON TOP OF GERMAN EMBASSY/ AUDIO OF CHILDREN CHANTING VARIOUS OF YOUNG BOYS FACING GREEK POLICE OFFICERS BLOCKING THEIR PATH (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) 16-YEAR OLD REFUGEE FROM SYRIA, MOHAMMED ALI, IN GREECE FOR NINE MONTHS WITH HIS MOTHER, WHILE HIS FATHER AND SIBLINGS ARE IN GERMANY, SAYING: "I did one interview and I am waiting for the decision, for accept or refuse from Germany, and it will take a long time I think because if I take (get) the accept, also I have to wait maybe after six months to go to Germany, to go to my father and sister and brother. It's very, I think it's very big problem." CHILDREN PROTESTING, SIGN READING: (English) "WE WANT TO GO TO OUR FATHER IN GERMANY" BOY CHANTING "GERMANY" BOY HOLDING HANDMADE BANNER READING: (English) "LOOK AT OUR SITUATION/ CHILDREN CHANTING: (English) "WANT TO GO, GERMANY" YOUNG GIRL CHANTING "GERMANY" AND HOLDING UP SIGN READING: (German and English) "WE LOST OUR HOMELAND, WE DON'T WANT TO LOSE OUR FUTURE" VARIOUS OF WOMEN CHANTING "GERMANY" WOMAN SHOUTING (English) "WHERE ARE YOU GO," OTHER WOMEN RESPONDING: "GERMANY" WOMEN WAVING THEIR HANDS IN THE AIR AND CHANTING "GERMANY" WOMEN STANDING BEHIND BANNERS AND POLICE VAN (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) 18-YEAR-OLD REFUGEE FROM SYRIA, NOOR, IN GREECE FOR OVER A YEAR WITH HER MOTHER AND SISTERS, WHILE HER FATHER AND BROTHER ARE IN GERMANY, SAYING: "We are here for more than one and half year, it's a very, very long time to wait. They told us you will go maximum six months from the interview, but we are here for more than one year. The children are here now with no education, no normal life, we are living in the camps, we are too many people, and it's just unfair for us." WOMEN AND CHILDREN SITTING ON STREET OUTSIDE EMBASSY, BLOCKING TRAFFIC MAN GESTURING NEXT TO WOMEN BLOCKING STREET TRAFFIC SNARL
  • Embargoed: 2nd August 2017 13:53
  • Keywords: Germany embassy migrants in limbo family reunification Greece refugees protesting EU migration policy relocation programme
  • Location: ATHENS, GREECE
  • City: ATHENS, GREECE
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016QDVWP3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Dozens of Syrian refugee woman and children living in limbo in Greece staged a protest on Wednesday (July 19) outside the German embassy, tired and angry after months of waiting to be reunified with their families in Germany.
    About 60,000 refugees and migrants, mostly Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis, have been stuck in Greece for over a year after border closures in the Balkans halted their journey to central and Western Europe.
    The protesters, who came from migrant camps near Athens, waved hand-painted signs and chanted "Germany, Germany" outside the embassy.
    Noor, an 18-year-old from Syria who has been waiting to be reunited with her father and brother for more than a year, says it's not fair on young children to be deprived of their education and family.
    The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says family reunification can take between 10 months and two years, making life particularly hard on those left behind.
    Nearly 75,000 refugees and migrants stranded in Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary and the Western Balkans are at risk of "psychological distress" caused by existing in a prolonged state of transit, according to UNICEF.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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