Source:
left.gr
I feell totally obliged to speak about the things I witnessed with my very
own eyes at the Police Station of Drapetsona, a close-to- the city- port
neighborhood in Piraeus. I really have no idea of how I could possibly help
my fellow men and so I expect each one of you to contribute to this by
making widely known what I saw:
The immigrants who are being imprisoned on the basement of the Drapetsona
Police Station have been beaten up by the policemen in order to discontinue
their hunger strike. This behaviour made the 28-year -old Palestinian
imprisoned refugee Ibrahim Farat to attempt suicide . These events has made
us, the active citizens of Piraeus to organize a protest march to their
support. Once we arrived outside the Police Station the Chief Officer
Police appeared right in front of the Specially Equiped Police Forces
called MAT- to tell us that a team of 5 individuals could go in and talk
to the imprisoned immigrants. These immigrants have been detained simply
because they could not provide employment documents as they have lost their
jobs owing to the continuously deteriorating economic crisis or because
they didn’t have entrance documents in the first place. They haven’t
committed any other offence…
The picture I saw was really shocking. In the inferno of the Police
Station 100 people were piled up in 70 square meters and have been detained
there for more than 9 months, right after the beginning of “Xenios” Dias,
this especially setup force organized by the Ministry of Public Order and
acts upon the commands of its Minister Mr. Dendias, badly-reputed for his
humanitarian methods-which sweeps from the squares poor homeless Greek
people and foreign immigrants. (Ironically, Xenios Dias – Zeus was the God
of hospitality in ancient years. It was the God that protected the
foreigners and every ancient Greek was obliged to take care and offer
hospitality to every foreigner. Xenios Dias wasn’t the God who imprisoned,
beat and tortured the foreigners). The people have been held up there under
unbearable and unspeakable conditions driving these people to despair . The
complete lack of hygiene has allowed the spread of contagious skin diseases
among them and in combination with the complete absence of natural daylight
have made these unlucky people sick , physically and mentally, forcing them
to attempt suicide. Even mice may die in these conditions. The picture is
impossible to depict. The kind of picture that’s rare even in movies. I’m
really outraged at the State of which I’m a citizen. I’m deeply ashamed and
outraged against the policemen who beat up these people as the imprisoned
revealed to me, something which the Police Station Chief totally denied.
I managed to co-op with the sadness and the despair expressed in their
eyes. I managed to have a dialogue with the chief who was trying, in vain,
to find excuses, saying that he is trying to balance out between
humanitarian principles and dehumanizing orders by Mr. Dendias, who is
exclusively responsible in the chief’s opinion for the situation of the PS.
I collapsed when I saw right in front of me a man tearing his own flesh
causing bleeding as the only solution to attract our attention to his
problem as soon as he saw us hoping that this will get him out of this
inferno in which he is being detained and tortured for 9 consecutive months…
While tears filled my eyes, I got out of their cells so as not to be seen as
this would further cause to them more pain and grief. These people
experience the conditions of hell while alive. I began to scream my head
off at the policemen and their accompanying state pschychologists.
You are no human beings I cried. You are violating every sense of what we
call human rights and you talk to us about the bureaucracy which prevents
you from fixing the toilets – only 2 for 100 people- and for your effort to
balance out between humanism and the orders you get. Had you been human
beings with any sign of sensitivity you would have spoken out for what
happens inside here, and you would have resigned in order to stop this
crime. I was beginning to lose control and so I moved out of the station .
Those who happen to read what I am writing must reconsider their
responsibilities. They must react. We are the people who have the power.We
are the State. But if the state is heartless it is because we who make it
we are inhuman.
The Police Chief announced to the imprisoned man who had wounded himself
that he would be set free. The same was said to the Palestinian who had
earlier attempted suicide. The message that has been passed: You will get
out of here only if you commit suicide and if you are lucky you may be
promptly saved at the hospital…
Ι wish each one of us had the chance to get into this inferno of
Drapetsona and see, speak and look into the eyes of our fellow men who
experience this torture, one breath away from our homes. Then, they would
all be out in the streets protesting.
Events of this kind take place everywhere in our country, being the result
of the operation 'Xenios Dias". We must do everything we can in our
capacity to put an end to this dreadful operation which is insulting us,
our tradition and our civilization. Mr. Dendias, the minister of the so
called ministry for the protection of the citizen(!) really or deliberately
ignores our history and he should be reminded of the meaning of hopitality
these very ancient Greek words convey.
We demand that these imprisoned ill-fated victims of his cruel policy be
immediately released and set free.
We demand the immediate termination of the inhuman operation “ Xenios” Dias
that insults our Culture and Democracy and makes expiatories victims the
most weak part of our society, the immigrants and the refugees.
Giorgos Karistinos
