#vathi

  • Deal signed for construction of new migrant centers

    Migration Minister #Notis_Mitarakis and the director of the European Commission, #Beate_Gminder, have signed a financing agreement for the construction of new closed structures on the eastern Aegean islands of #Samos, #Kos and #Leros.

    The funding for these projects will be fully covered by the European Commission.

    Also on Friday, the working group for the coordination of the procedures for the final termination of the operations of the reception and identification centers in #Vathi on Samos and on Leros met for the first time.

    The group’s main objective is the coordination of all involved bodies (Ministry of Health, the National Public Health Organization, local authorities, the Hellenic Police, the armed forces, the fire brigade and international bodies) to ensure the smooth shutdown of the existing structures and the operation of the new closed facilities of Samos and Leros.

    https://www.ekathimerini.com/259140/article/ekathimerini/news/deal-signed-for-construction-of-new-migrant-centers

    #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Grèce #centres #camps_de_réfugiés #financement #Mer_Egée #îles #centres_fermés #financement #EU #internal_externalization #externalisation_intérieure #Union_européenne #UE

    –—

    Et voilà que #Moria_2.0 se généralise à toutes les îles grecques...
    Merci le #nouveau_pacte:


    https://seenthis.net/messages/875903
    https://seenthis.net/messages/876752
    #pacte_européen

    ping @isskein @karine4

    • Accord entre l’#Union_européenne et la Grèce pour un nouveau camp d’accueil pour migrants à Lesbos en 2021

      Le camp de Moria avait été ravagé par un incendie au mois de septembre 2020. Un campement provisoire, où se trouve 7 300 demandeurs d’asile, a depuis été établi sur l’île.

      Presque trois mois après un incendie ravageur, l’Union européenne (UE) et la Grèce ont signé un accord, jeudi 3 décembre, pour la mise en place d’ici septembre 2021 d’un nouveau camp d’accueil pour migrants sur l’île de Lesbos. Ce nouveau camp doit remplacer celui de Moria détruit en septembre.

      Le soutien de l’Union européenne dans la gestion de ce nouveau « centre d’accueil » sera inédit, et l’accord prévoit une répartition des responsabilités entre la Commission, les autorités grecques et les agences de l’UE.

      Après la destruction du camp insalubre de Moria, le plus grand d’Europe, un campement provisoire a été établi sur l’île. Plus de 7 300 demandeurs d’asile, parmi lesquels des enfants, des personnes handicapées ou malades, s’entassent sous des tentes, sans chauffage ni eau chaude à l’approche de l’hiver.

      Dans le nouveau camp, « nous allons fournir des conditions décentes aux migrants et réfugiés qui arrivent, et aussi soutenir les habitants sur les îles grecques », a déclaré la présidente de la Commission européenne, Ursula von der Leyen, dans un communiqué, où elle souligne également la nécessité de « procédures rapides et équitables » pour l’examen des demandes d’asile. Pour les migrants, « les centres doivent n’être qu’un arrêt temporaire avant leur retour (vers leur pays d’origine ou de transit) ou leur intégration », précise Mme von der Leyen.

      « Une étape importante »

      La Commission prévoit de consacrer environ 130 millions d’euros pour les sites de Lesbos et de Chios, dont la très grosse majorité pour Lesbos. En outre, 121 millions d’euros ont été alloués le mois dernier à la construction de trois camps moins importants sur les îles de Samos, Kos et Leros.

      « Cet accord est une étape importante (…) pour s’assurer qu’une situation comme celle de Moria ne puisse plus se reproduire », a ajouté la commissaire européenne aux affaires intérieures, Ylva Johansson. Elle a estimé que ce nouveau camp « marquait un changement dans la façon d’appréhender la gestion des migrations, et ouvre la voie à une mise en pratique des principes directeurs du nouveau pacte sur la migration et l’asile ».

      La Commission européenne a présenté fin septembre un projet de réforme de la politique commune de l’asile, un dossier ultrasensible sur lequel la recherche d’un compromis est extrêmement difficile, cinq ans après la crise migratoire de 2015.

      Lesbos, en mer Egée ainsi que d’autres îles grecques proches des côtes occidentales de la Turquie voisine, est l’une des principales portes d’entrée des migrants en Europe. La Grèce a considérablement réduit le nombre d’arrivées en 2020 mais les conditions de vie dans les camps d’accueil restent particulièrement éprouvantes.

      https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/12/03/accord-entre-l-union-europeenne-et-la-grece-pour-un-nouveau-camp-a-lesbos-en

  • AYS Daily Digest 05/05/20

    Releasing first hand testimony and photographic evidence indicating the existence of violent collective expulsions

    Border Violence Monitoring Network, Wave-Thessaloniki and Mobile Info Team have published a press release: Collective Expulsion from Greek Centres on Tuesday:
    “In response to the recent spike in pushbacks from Greece to Turkey, (we) are releasing first hand testimony and photographic evidence indicating the existence of violent collective expulsions. In the space of six weeks, the teams received reports of 194 people removed and pushed back into Turkey from the refugee camp in Diavata and the Drama Paranesti Pre-removal Detention Centre.”
    “In the case of Diavata, respondents report being removed from this accomodation centre by police with the information that they would be issued a document to temporarily regularise their stay (informally known as a “Khartia”). Instead they shared experiences of being beaten, robbed and detained before being driven to the border area where military personnel used boats to return them to Turkey across the Evros river. Meanwhile, another large group was taken from detention in Drama Paranesti and expelled with the same means. Though the pushbacks seem to be a regular occurence from Greece to Turkey, rarely have groups been removed from inner city camps halfway across the territory or at such a scale from inland detention spaces. Within the existing closure of the Greek asylum office and restriction measures due to COVID-19, the repression of asylum seekers and wider transit community looks to have reached a zenith in these cases.”
    The collected evidence comes from cases on 31st March 2020, 16th April 2020, 17th April 2020, 23rd April 2020, and two separate cases on 28th April 2020. Many of the cases involved people being pushed into vans from Diavata camp and driven to the Turkish border to be expelled.

    There are still more reports of recent mysterious pushbacks not yet accounted for. On April 30th, dozens of people saw a small inflatable boat of about 10 to 15 people reach the shore of Chios, when the Greek Navy appeared on site to tow them “away.” Chios MP Andreas Michailidis spoke about the incident:
    “If the suspicions expressed in the reports are confirmed, the Greek government is seriously exposed and fully responsible for the consequences of its practices.”
    Josoor Blog just published an editorial on “Pushed around Europe: The story of a young man who was pushed back more than 15 times.” It’s not an easy read, but if you need to see the bravery in the human spirit right about now, take a look. This young man’s story also evidences the absolutely inhumanity of pushbacks occurring in Europe. They were intolerable and breaking international law before COVID-19, and they continue up until now…

    *

    Residents in northern Greece protest arrival of 300 vulnerable asylum seekers to hotel, transfer oversaw by IOM

    After Tuesday’s Press conference with the General Police Director of the North Aegean, journalist Franziska Grillmeier laid out some excellent points behind the disturbing fact that most of the fines for COVID-19 restrictions were given to refugees:

    “Background: During this time, over 3 big fires broke out in Moria + Vathy, causing hundreds of people to flee for a safe place. Many inhabitants of #Moria were also fined in front of Supermarket, where ppl got basics like flour, oil + diapers that weren’t provided in Camp.
    Additionally: many inhabitants couldn’t charge phone with credit — since they were not allowed to travel to Mytilini anymore to charge. Hence, SMS to communte could rarely be sent. ALSO, people report to be left without information on COVIDー19 regulations for most time.
    While not to forget that up to 19,000 men, children + women are currently trapped in a space made for 2,840 alone in Moria. Women with disabilities, women giving birth, newborn children, elderly men with movement difficulties in olive grove fields + with no future outlook.”

    https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-05-05-20-photographic-evidence-first-hand-testimony-greece-

    #Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Camp #Diavata #Paranesti #Expulsions #Expulsionscollectives #turquie #incendie #moria #vathi #transfert #hôtel

  • AYS Daily Digest 28/04/20

    Camp residents from Diavata camp near Thessaloniki sent AYS footage of a police raid

    They took over 30 people to an unknown location, after entering the camp in riot gear and forcing people into vans. They targeted the people who were camping in tents and improvised shelters in the grounds of the centre.
    There is serious concern that new legislation for the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the recent asylum suspension, has resulted in an increase of people being removed from camps in Greece in April, and more pushbacks being conducted to Turkey. It is expected that this is the probable fate for 30 people from Tuesday morning.
    Eye witnesses inside Diavata camp report the use of violence to arrest those 30 people. Many others in the camp fled fearing capture and possible removal. Volunteers spoke to one man who alleges his friend was taken and had still not heard from him.

    Update on fires in Samos

    On Sunday, fires broke out in Samos’s Vathy camp. Frances, a volunteer for Action for Education, documented what happened:
    “Tensions peaked at 6pm, it was then the first fire began to blaze. After dark, a second fire started, it burned 6 containers. The next morning a third fire began. Estimations suggest 500 people lost everything, they now have no place to stay. MSF went outside the camp to set up a medical first response with psychosocial support. NGOs started distributing blankets before being stopped by police.
    The next day (Monday), police prevented camp residents from entering town. Authorities continue to have limited communication with NGOs but tent distributions have been able to take place. Displaced people have been left to sleep on the ‘football pitch’ outside the camp. This is really just a gravel square. There are rumours that people escaped to the beaches to sleep. Tensions continue to be high in the camp, there are rumours that the ‘war’ is not over. This ‘war’ refers to community in-fighting as people struggle for supplies. Limited resources result in a power imbalance that fuels tensions.
    The atmosphere has calmed now, but many camp residents still live in fear. We have heard reports from NGOs that minors in camp are pleading for shelter as they are worried they will be ‘mixed up in the war’…”
    In an update from Samos Volunteers, they say the causes of the fires are still unclear, but tensions between various communities living in the camp have risen due to overcrowding conditions on top of Covid-19 fears. More here.

    Mission Lifeline has raised 55,000 euros in donations in order to fly 150 refugees currently in Lesvos to Germany. Lifeline’s spokesperson Axel Steier said:
    “With this sum, one could finance two Boeing 747–300 flights and get around 150 people from the Moria refugee camp in Lesbos…The association has a total of 110,000 euros available for the planned construction of a civil airlift between Lesbos and Berlin.”
    All they are waiting for is permission from the Interior Minister since negotiations with the Greek service provider have concluded well. More here.

    In an update from Legal Centre Lesvos on the gunman’s trial who shot two people living in Moria last week:

    “At the gunman’s two pre-trial hearings, yesterday and last Friday, tens of people — including known members of the far-right, one of whom had been convicted in February 2020 for making online threats against a Lesvos Solidarity — Pikpa coordinator — stood outside the court to support him. The police made no effort to disperse the group, despite Covid-19 measures which prohibit leaving one’s house except for state-sanctioned reasons such as for essential shopping, exercise, and doctor visits, and prohibit any public gatherings. When journalists arrived to the scene and were harrassed by the gunman’s supporters, police instructed them — but not those insulting them — to leave for their own safety.
    At his pretrial hearing, the gunman, who admitted to having shot at the two migrants, was released from detention on pre-trial bail and was charged with attempted premeditated murder. Migrants who have been charged with lesser and non-violent crimes — such as alleged stealing of sheep — have been ordered by the same court to wait in pre-trial detention, which is sometimes up to a year of imprisonment, demonstrating the discriminatory use of pre-trial detention to punish and further criminalize migrants.
    The authorities’ open tolerance of fascist violence in Lesvos and the discriminatory application of the law to target migrants — by the police, the municipal government, and the court — now means that members of the far-right act with impunity, while migrants face punishment for the legitimate exercise of their rights.”

    https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-28-04-20-police-raid-in-diavata-camp-near-thessaloniki-fear

    #Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Diavata #Thessalonique #Arrestation #Camp #Samos #incendie #Vathi #Lesbos #Allemagne #Transfert #Moria #Incident

  • AYS Weekend Digest 25–26/4/2020

    FIRES AT VATHI, SAMOS
    Many reports confirm that at least two separate fires broke out within Vathi camp on Samos on Sunday evening and one more this morning (Monday).
    As Samos Volunteers report, the first fire, which started around 7pm, “was located in the area directly behind the medical facilities at the lower end of the unofficial jungle, which function as temporary shelters for potential Corona patients. An unknown number of tents were burnt before the local fire brigade managed to control and finally extinguish the fire.”
    After that, it seems that there were other repeated fires at 8pm and 10pm. A fire “reached the centre of the official camp. Several containers have caught fire. Besides housing most of the camp’s facilities, including the asylum service, the containers provide shelter for many camp residents, who share a container with as many as sixty people”.
    As MSF report, at least 100 people are left without shelter:
    Throughout the night, evacuation operations have been going on. It is not yet clear the extent of the damage. Most people left the camp and gathered on a empty plot of land. While solidarians and organisations on the ground tried to assist residents providing shelter, tents, medical assistance, food and water, fights and moments of tensions broke out and riot police entered the camp multiple times. In the night police stopped any kind of assistance or distribution.

    Evacuation at Vathi (Samos) — Photo by AYS
    A new fire broke out this morning.
    Despite the fires, we have confirmed reports that police continue to stop every kind of distribution, and are not letting anybody get into town.
    Around 700 people are being held in a bit of empty land in front of the camp, without adequate access to food or water, women and children included.
    This fire followed the ones in Moria (Lesvos) and Vial (Chios) in the last weeks. As of April 23, 6869 people were recorded living in Vathi camp, with a capacity of 648 people. The population density is the highest in the centre of the camp, where the fire burned most intense.
    These fires are nothing other than the natural consequence of Greek and European policies: keeping people crammed in overcrowded spaces, using the fear of the pandemic to implement widespread detention for all people on the move, stripping them even more of their basic rights, and barring them from participating in society.

    LESVOS: Updates from Moria
    In Moria, the situation is not getting any better. After the halt to the plan to transfer the most vulnerable residents to empty hotels, no other solution has been proposed to decongest the camp. 18293 is the official population (as of April 23rd). Food lines take hours, at least 1000 people don’t get food because there is not enough. There is also not enough water.
    With the limitations of movement outside the camp and the racist policies of supermarkets around Moria which are now prohibiting camp residents from going in, people can only shop in the one supermarket inside the camp, with waiting times of up to three days:
    Team Humanity is crowdfunding to distribute 3,500 food packs. They are doing food distribution for those who cannot stay in the food lines. Support hem HERE.
    Residents are doing what they can to improve the situation, the Moria Corona Awareness Team are starting to recycle water bottles to reduce the amount of waste in the camp.

    MAINLAND: Suicide in police detention
    A young man, who was detained in Komotini police station (Northeastern Greece) hanged himself over the weekend. He had been reportedly sentenced to several years in prison for people smuggling. According to the report authored by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on conditions of detention in Greece: “ill-treatment by the police.. against foreign nationals.. remains a frequent practice”. Around 6,000 people on the move, including minors, are under arrest in the country.

    From the Mothers of Malakasa
    There are reports of frequent water cuts in Malakasa camp (in Attica), which worsen the conditions during quarantine. Refugees report additional sanitary infrastructure for the more than 400 newcomers living in tents was installed but has not yet been connected.
    “How should we wash our hands without water,” a mother asks.
    Read the call for help from mothers in the quarantined Malakasa refugee camp HERE.

    BiH
    Local media has published a further update on the Bosnian Government’s aim to deport all people on the move. They wish to compile a list of 9000–10,000 people to be deported and are once again framing this as a security crisis rather than a humanitarian one. They have also made it clear that they are struggling to identify the people currently in Bosnian territory meaning that they can not have gone through a proper asylum process. As we know, everybody has the right to claim asylum regardless of where they come from or the recognition rate of their country.
    Meanwhile, as usual it is local people and grass roots groups, not the government, who are actually supporting people on the move.

    https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-weekend-digest-25-26-4-2020-fires-at-vathi-samos-c7535d761c51

    #Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Camp #Samos #Vathi #Incendie #Evacuation #Lesbos #Moria #Transfert #Hôtel #Komotini #Suicide #Malakasa #Expulsion

  • #Incendies dans les #camps_de_réfugiés (ou autres lieux d’hébergement de demandeurs d’asile et réfugiés) en #Grèce. Tentative de #métaliste, non exhaustive...

    Les incendies sont rassemblés ici en ordre chronologique, mais attention à faire la distinction entre ceux qui ont lieu :
    – par accident
    – comme geste de #protestation de la part des réfugiés entassés dans ces camps surpeuplés et insalubres
    – par main de l’#extrême_droite

    #réfugiés #asile #migrations #feu #incendie #anti-réfugiés #racisme #xénophobie #révolte #résistance

    –-> + un incendie qui a eu lieu en décembre 2020 en #Bosnie (#route_des_Balkans / #Balkans)

    ping @isskein

  • [Via Vicky Soumbi, Migreurop]

    Suite à plusieurs incendies l’évacuation du hot-spot de Samos est en cours

    Une opération d’évacuation de la structure de réfugiés à Vathy, Samons tard dimanche soir. Elle a été précédée par plusieurs départs d’incendies au hotspot de Vathy, mais aussi par des tensions entre les réfugiés et les forces de police, qui ont initialement empêché les réfugiés de quitter la zone en feu.

    Vers 22 h 30 aujourd’hui (dimanche) dans la nuit, l’évacuation de la structure de réfugiés (Centre d’accueil et d’identification) de Vathi de Samos a commencé, les résidents étant actuellement dirigés vers la place centrale de Samos.

    L’évacuation a été précédée par des incendies successifs au hotspot , mais aussi des tensions avec les forces de police, qui ont initialement empêché les réfugiés de quitter l’enfer de feu, en application ( !!!) les mesures restrictives mises en place en raison d’une pandémie.

    En particulier, le premier incendie s’est déclaré vers 19h30, brûlant de nombreuses tentes. Selon Médecins Sans Frontières, une centaine de personnes se sont retrouvées sans abri à cause de l’incendie.
    msfgreece

    @MSFgreece

    Un incendie s’est déclaré il y a une heure à KYT # Vathi # Samos, faisant une centaine de sans-abri. Nos équipes sont proches du point, prêtes à offrir des soins médicaux et un soutien psychologique aux victimes.

    Vers 20 h 30, alors que l’incendie était en cours, les forces de police ont empêché les réfugiés de quitter les lieux. Puis un deuxième incendie s’est déclaré vers 21 heures, suivi d’un troisième peu avant 22 heures. De fortes forces des pompiers se sont précipitées sur les lieux pour tenter d’éteindre les incendies, tandis qu’un nombre important de résidents ont commencé à quitter le camp.

    Le feu a atteint les conteneurs et se dirigeait vers le quartier général, au moment où les réfugiés se réfugiaient sur la place de Samos. Il faudrait rappeler que ce hotspot abrite quelques 6 500 réfugiés et migrants bloqués sur l’île.

    Regardez ICI les vidéos des incendies.

    https://www.efsyn.gr/ellada/koinonia/240743_diadohikes-foties-kai-ekkenosi-toy-kyt-tis-samoy

    #Covid-19 #Migrants #Migrations #ilegrecque #camp #hotspot #Grèce #samos #Vathi #Incendie #Révolte #Evacuation