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Whatever your views on the migrant crisis and asylum seekers Julia and
I were profoundly disturbed by the sight of humanity finding refuge in this
otherwise typical Athenian urban city square. Our trip to Greece was by our usual
globetrotting standards only a ‘local visit’ but last Sunday the world came to
us in Athens!
Caught with limited options between Sunday sailing ferries and a fixed
time BA flight we had to book a hotel at the last minute. Athens it seemed was packed and our options
were limited. We ended up in a poor
district a short distance from an Athens city center, informal migrant camp.
The entire square had been taken over by Middle Eastern and Asian
foreigners who had neatly laid their bedrolls along the paths between the
flowerbeds. It was crowded but amazingly
tidy given that stays here stretch from days into weeks and there are no proper
facilities. No toilets and no showers
for 1000 people and yet the air was sweet and the floor was clear of any litter.
Clean grey blankets were laid out on
flattened cardboard boxes to make sleeping on stone a little more comfortable.
Neat piles of spare folded blankets lay to one side. These personal spaces were of proud,
dignified and organized individuals whose small ‘pillows’ actually represented
their total possessions.
The square was full but I saw no more than a dozen European faces. The migrants were almost entirely Afghani but
Pakistani and Iranians were also represented.
They were predominantly young men and boys but at no time did we feel
uncomfortable or threatened. They were in fact most welcoming, wanting to talk,
encouraging us to take pictures of them and even offering me a paper tissue as
tears welled up in my eyes as the enormity and discomfort, physical and mental,
that these young people must be experiencing, sunk in.
Young men who spoke excellent English had travelled through Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey to take a dingy across the sea to
a Greek Island. Along the way and
especially at the numerous borders they could expect to be shot at even if they
had a passport and personal ID. To get over borders they often had to cross
under cover of dark and pay mafia types to guide them. Their positive attitudes
and determination was for us quite humbling and emotionally traumatic.
Sitting on a low wall on one side of the square, were dozens of men and
boys sitting and passively holding up pieces of A4 paper on which had been
written simple statements in Arabic and English to communicate their cause;
Open the borders, Afghanistan is also at war, Afghans are human, the Greek
authorities must pay attention to Afghans and Afghans want to live without war.
Behind them are the Mulberry trees from which two Pakistani men made their
protest last week by attempting to hang themselves!
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| There were women and girls and young children on the square too, but most of them had congregated to one side where they were sitting on the ground cutting out cardboard shapes and painting them to entertain the children and make masks and crowns to wear. It is carnival time in Athens and all the youngsters that we had seen earlier in the day in the tourist areas were all ‘dressed up’. Migrant children were not going to be an exception! |
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| We spoke at length to several young men. While this was going on I
noticed a member of the public delivering a laundry bag sized collection of
second hand clothing onto the square.
For a few minutes there was mayhem as men and women formed a scrum and
grabbed whatever they could get hold of.
A little boy next to me managed to get a belt, someone else a blouse
while a tug of war over a pair of trousers extended the few seconds that it
took for this whole event to unfold.
The supply of food and drinks to date has not been a problem as many
local Greeks are donating food on a regular basis. Hundreds of plastic bottles of water were
being distributed as we spoke. Local café’s and restaurants on the square have
however been blighted as the new arrivals don't have the spare cash to enjoy
the café culture and local Greeks are hardly going to sip their Ouzo in full
view of the new scene.
One young man, a trained engineer was born in Iran of an Iranian
mother. His father was Afghan so he was
not of pure Persian stock. Under the existing regime he was never going to be
issued with Iranian identity papers, a passport or allowed to buy property in
Iran. He compared the Iranian state to
North Korea concluding that is was impossible for him to stay and live a normal
life. If he was ever in trouble with the law he could not expect a fair
trial. He had therefore set off for
Stuttgart to find a family member or friend in Germany.
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Another young Afghan from Hairatan in the north of his country had been
fighting the Taliban in the Afghan army.
His commander had been killed and he had been shot in the ankle during
an attack. He rolled down his sock to show us his wound. His mother and sister
had dispatched him from Afghanistan in order that he should at least have the
chance to make something of his life. (His father had already been killed.) He
had crossed the great Amu Darya river into Uzbekistan, crossed another three
borders and then taken to an inflatable dingy to cross from Turkey to a Greek
island. His fluent English and bright animated
face conveyed the challenges of this epic journey. We asked him his age. “18” he replied.
Tears well up in our eyes and he gave us a
compassionate smile and said “don't cry, or you will make me cry”. He proudly took his shiny new Afghan
passport from his top pocket and held it in front of him for a photograph. We talked to him about the reaction of some
Europeans to the migrants arriving in Europe and how overwhelming the problem
was. He explained to us why he was
staying in Athens. The Macedonian border is now closed to Afghans and only a
few hundred Syrians are being allowed to pass through each day. He did not want to enter another potential
conflict so would wait here until the situation changed. (The following day the BBC reported that the
Macedonian army or Police force had deployed tear gas canisters on men, women
and children when a group cut through the fence and rushed the border security
forces on the Macedonian side.)
We told him that from everything he had told us and from his demeanor
and personality we were sure that he would eventually make it to his brother in
Utrecht. We wished him well. As we left he told us of his plans. Once in
Holland, he wants to join the Dutch army so that he can go back and fight the
Taliban!
Do listen to the first item in
BBC’s From our Own Correspondent first broadcast 3.3.16
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03lbz6k
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