Greek Coast Guard accused of ramming a half-sunken boat with 70 refugees (PROTEST 18 December 2021)

"On Sunday, 21 November 2021, another shipwreck took place south of Crete. Once again, a rotten boat with 70 refugees having left Turkey in an attempt to reach Italy, sent an SOS distress call because it was flooded. The HQ of the greek Coast Guard, with a criminal delay, responded to the SOS with one day delay. According to the anonymous denunciations of the passengers, the boat of the greek Coast Guard, while reaching the spot, rammed the half-sunken boat several times, spreading panic amongst the castaways, resulting to the mutilation of 2 people and 1 death. One of the blows threw 10 people in the sea. 4 of them managed to get back on the boat. The other 6 remained in the water for an hour, while the Coast Guard was transporting the people to its vessel, ignoring those who had fallen in the water. The people who were fighting to stay afloat were rescued by a passing ship, offering them first aid, before they were transported to the boat of the Greek Navy. On Saturday, November 27, without notifying solidarity activists and volunteers, the geek police suddenly transported the people to the port of Souda and from there to Amygdaleza refugee camp. Following the intervention of solidarity collectives and organizations, the unaccompanied children, while waiting to find out in which camp for minors they were to be transferred, they avoided a prolonged detention. From the first moment, the mass media began to talk about a stealthy rescue operation by the Coast Guard, when in fact they arrived 24 hours later. They also reported that a dead body was simply found, silencing the blows to the boat struck from the Coast Guard. Furthering the lies, the mass media reported: "In Paleochora, the authorities have already begun to make preparations, according to all the protocols followed in these cases, for the protection of public health, while the people who were on the boat were expected to undergo mandatory quarantine". In fact, the sole preparations by the authorities were limited to the coordination of the volunteers and the offers that have no cost for the respective Municipality that "undertakes" the "hospitality". And the truth is that this time the solidarity activists, the institutions and the associations that actually undertook the responsibility for accommodating and feeding the refugees, was moving as an act. They were the ones who actually took over the reception of the people, while indicting that the place provided to the refugees to stay, was unsuitable even as temporary accommodation. As for the protocols that were "observed", they were certainly not the ones adhering to the internationally guaranteed refugee rights. Despite the fact that the right to claim asylum is a basic human right and there is a State obligation to protect that right, even if a person enters a country informally, once again the refugees found in Kundura were not informed of their rights, no one translated the "formal administrative documents" served on them and the police said NO to the choice of claiming asylum, when in fact everyone wanted to apply for asylum! Actually, from the first moment of their detention, their mobile phones were taken from them! And in this way the politics of death have become a routine. The words of the greek far right Minister of Public Health, who said that "border guarding cannot be effective if there are no human losses, if there are no dead people", are being put into action. Reports from 27 human rights organizations document that 34,000 asylum seekers have not been provided with food for 2 months, while infants and children stay hungry, under the responsibility of the racist greek government, in spite of the hefty european funding received for refugee support. This year, Chania procured its Christmas tree from Paris costing the scandalous amount of 30,000 euros! A tree costs tens of thousands of euros, a human life nothing. A tree travels safely, while a refugee is in danger at every step. Detention for those who committed the crime of human movement and a welcoming ceremony for a tree. We call on everyone that fundamentally understands what it means for humanity, to denounce the incident that happened at sea, so close to us and to demand policies for people and not just as a show. We call on the Bar Association of the city to immediately reorganize the human rights committee and to be present when the next ship arrives. We demand open spaces to receive the refugees within the local communities with the legal, health and social care that the labor, social and antifascist movements have achieved by shedding their own blood. To defend the rescue, to stop the murders and the crimes against human life! To crush the fascists and the scum with the ties and the uniforms Chania, against the era of the murderers Rosa Nera Squat & Social Center - Migrants Social Center of Chania" PROTEST | 18 December 2021 | 12:00 D. Agora Square Original video by Antikleidi:    • Κάλεσμα Πορείας (18/12) || Καταγγελία για ...