Tag Archives: police

Arbitrary detentions on Lesvos

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Yesterday, 15th of June, 60-80 refugees were arrested on Lesvos. They were grabbed from the streets, even if their asylum process is running or they had a white card to stay on Lesvos. The detained persons were brought directly to the ferry at Mytilini harbour, then they were deported to Athens by boat. During the transfer they had to stay handcuffed. When arriving at Athens they were brought to prison and/or detention centers. We have varified information that they are facing the options of leaving the country by plane or being detained in prison for 6 months. It seems like others are accused of human trafficing. Though the information situation is diffuse right now, it seems like the detentions are arbitrary and do not only defy human rights but also positiv legal standards.

Today, 16th of June, at Moria detention camp, people were caught out of a waiting line and also detained by the police. We do not know up to now, what happend with them.

Please spread the news widely, contact lawyers and keep your eyes open. Solidarity and stay save.

NO BORDERS NO NATION – STOP DEPORTATION!

Moria is Hell! 10.05.2016

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Report from inside – Inside Moria the conditions for food are worse than hell. We have to wait in lines, our whole day we spend in waiting for food in huge cues.
We have to wait in line for two hours just for tea and we get pushed back and forth. People get hurt, just for a cup of tea and only the lucky ones manage to get it. It starts at 7:00 am in the morning. We have to strive for tea. It is like a jungle. People wake up to get in a cue for two hours just for a cup of tea and two biscuits.

And then people start looking for breakfast. Again people stand in a cue for three hours for a piece of bread and a juice box. S.O.S. Remar people distribute the food and they don’t do a good job because they don’t care. There are a lot of fights and people get injured everyday just for food. It is normal. Not everyone gets food in the end. By the time breakfast is finished at 1:00. And after the breakfast the struggle starts again. The lunch struggle is the same. Some people get food and others wait for hours for food and still don’t get any food.

I just saw a really ugly fight between two Syrians and three Pakistani’s in the struggle to get food. I don’t understand how people can fight just for food. I saw all these people injured really bad all of them were bleeding. I couldn’t stand it and started to cry. It is a circus every day. People get seriously injured and it’s fun for the cops and the military to watch. They don’t break up the fights, they just stand laughing and watch the people fight from a distance. You can see it on their faces that they are happy and smiling during the fights.

This tears me up completely. I could never have imagined this. It is a slap in the face of humanity.
I want to talk about food again. The struggle for food isn’t over and people start striving for dinner.The whole mess starts at 9:00 pm and people are forced to stand in lines again. The whole day just passes like that and at the end not everyone gets food. This pattern of living shocks me. Our whole day is standing in the lines waiting for small portions of food.

This is Hell. Policemen are happy and smiling during the fights.
People are being treated like animals – or sheep to be honest.

Riots in Moria 26.04.2016

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On the 26th of April, on the island of Lesvos, there were riots in the detention center of Moria.

This day the Greek vice-minister of immigration, Muzalas, visited Moria to have a look at the situation inside. The minors in Moria are officially not allowed to be kept imprisoned, so they get to go out for half an hour every day. These 30 minutes out is the big thing of the day, what the minors are waiting for every day. On the 26th, they where not taken out at the usual time, assumable because of the visit of the vice-minister, and hour after hours of waiting they became more furious that they where not let outside.

To express there rage they threw water over the vice-minister, who was removed out of the prison wet directly for his safety. A few minors started to rebel further on by setting things on fire, presumably trash bins and other burnable materials. The police reacted by beating up these minors, which enraged more and more minors. Around 4 o’clock they started to rebel at the main gate of Moria, setting trash bins on fire and throwing rocks at the riot police (who is stationed just outside the main gate of Moria 24/7). The riot police went inside but had to pull back after a few minutes, running for there lives together with translators, Frontex officers and people who work in Moria. The riots spread to different sections of the prison, where refugees managed to break down the fence and go outside of Moria to seek confrontation with the riot police. The riot police was clearly outnumbered and unprepared, and the refugees had the chance to seek confrontation with the police for hours. Teargas was shot without effect since there was no wind at all.

The refugees managed to break into the office that has control over the main speakers in Moria, shouting ‘freedom’ over the speakers hear-able all over the camp, and got entrance to the registration center where they destroyed documents and computers. In the night people started to climb on top of the buildings, set up more fires threw the camp and attempt to destroy the buildings itself. Also there were several more attempts to destroy fences on the inside. In the end the police went back inside, trying to desperately break up the riots by shooting several flashbang grenades at short distance, presumably aiming straight at refugees. 5 ambulances where driving on and off the site, unknown whether they were taking wounded cops or refugees to the hospital. What happened after that remains unknown, since the police ordered the last witnesses to leave the area and the police then shut down the complete road to Moria on both sides, making it impossible for anyone to get close. In the morning the situation was calm again.

For us these incidents show that humans can not be kept imprisoned without having an emotional reaction of resistance to it. We support refugees in there struggle for justice, acknowledgement of their situation and existence in Europe and abroad by the European Union, and we support them for their FIGHT FOR FREEDOM!

Freedom for all prisoners now!