Greek Activists are saving refugees from the streets of Athens
“Without state or NGO funding City Plaza provides dignity, safety and social integration, at the same time millions are spent by the state and NGOs at the camps and the detention centres keeping refugees in terrible and deadly conditions”. Elias Chronopoulos, Greek social activist.
In the Agios Panteleimonas-Victoria district, just outside central Athens, a group of activists have decided to tackle the problem of refugee homelessness by occupying a disused hotel and opening it to refugees. City Plaza is an 8 floored, fully furnished hotel which had been empty for seven years. In April 2016 the activists took it upon themselves to take over the disused building and put it to use as a refugee housing project. In March Macedonia erected the barbed wire fences effectively blocking the Balkan route, consequently thousands found themselves bottlenecked and stuck in Greece. The activists saw an opportunity to set up a self-sustaining community that would be a safe place for refugees to stay. Squatting in the hotel and allowing hundreds of refugees to stay was a way of giving the refugees an alternative to camps and homelessness.
When the owner of the building heard that a hotel was being occupied and being used for housing refugees she was delighted and even tweeted praise for the solidarity activists. Unfortunately moments later when she discovered it was her hotel she had a change of heart and began legal proceeding to have the squatters evicted. Greek bureaucracy is slow and the squatting laws so convoluted that it could take months, even years, to legally remove people from an occupied building.
“It’s the slow Greek bureaucracy that we depend on, we’ll keep this place going as long as possible” one of the volunteer chefs told me. The hotel is staffed by an international crew of volunteers who work normal jobs and use their spare time to help out.
Elias Chronopoulos, one of the social activists who runs the hotel, agreed to show me around. Walking through an ultra clean hotel kitchen with men and women all preparing lunch, Elias told me. “We supply 1200 meals a day in total, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Everything in this place is funded by private donors and our own fund raising, we don’t take any money from the NGO’s or government. The whole idea of this place is to show how refugees should be accommodated and treated, that it’s better also for locals and refugees to be part of the city and help them to integrate into Greek society. Without state or NGO funding CITY PLAZA provides dignity, safety and social integration, at the same time millions are spent by the state and NGOs at the camps and the detention centres keeping refugees in terrible and deadly conditions. This building was unused for 7 years and there are many cases like this in Athens. We are showing that housing refugees in disused buildings is not a novelty but a solution to the refugee housing crisis in Greece”.
The hotel has become so popular that the waiting list has over 1,000 applicants. When a room becomes available, because a resident has had their asylum claim accepted in a European country, then a new person is invited for a meeting. In the meeting the volunteers outline the rules “Everybody is equal here, there is no violence, alcohol or drugs. Anybody who breaks the rules or behaves in an inappropriate manner is asked to leave”.
In April when the refugees moved in the neighbours were apprehensive and expressed concerns that this would bring more trouble to this part of the city. Agios Panteleimonas some years ago was a popular stomping group for the Greek far right party ‘Golden Dawn’. High migration to Athens has consequently led to grouping of people in certain areas and Exarchia has attracted many foreign nationals. The Golden Dawn used to prowl the area looking to make examples of foreigners who were settling in Greece. “The neighbourhood was bad when we moved in. The hotel was used occasionally by drug addicts and the Golden Dawn came around regularly. The neighbours also thought that a refugee community being here would cause more problems. Since we have been here the neighbours have thanked us for making the area better and many even volunteer their time”.
On the door of the hotel there is 24-hour security for the safety of the residents and to check people coming in and out. When the building was taken over it was a fully operational hotel with a 100 rooms fitted with en-suite bathrooms, a hotel bar, kitchen, dining room and communal areas with all the amenities. “We keep everything clean and well run because it’s a community here. When people come they must agree to help out on the cleaning rota which is done 3 times a day in all communal areas. We also have education classes here. English and Greek language lessons are a regular fixture and many of the 140 children here attend Greek schools in Athens.”
The hotel is immaculate and looked like any other hotel with polished wooden tables, clean carpets and pastel coloured paintings of Greek landscapes adorning the walls. Past the reception desk with all the keys hanging on hooks that belong to the residents we passed through to the medical centre. The hotel has many volunteers including doctors who give their time to help the refugees. The medical centre was a room with an examination table, blood pressure monitor and shelves stacked with medicine.
“Some of our donors give medicine. We have the basic medical equipment and more, it’s all from different countries around the world but it’s here when needed. If somebody would like to speak to a doctor, we tell them when they will be in and schedule appointments”.
The hotel was fully stocked with bed sheets, towels, televisions and all the hotel amenities. I asked Elias to see the rooms but he was candid saying; “We don’t go into their rooms. They have the key and only if we are invited do we enter. This place is their home and by having their own key and privacy we have seen the positive responses from the people that stay here”.
In the lobby I ran into a 22-year-old Iraqi refugee who told me “Sleeping on the streets is dangerous and in the camps there are problems, here I am safe”. Numerous people told the same story. On the streets they suffered and were constantly at risk to the elements and the Golden Dawn but in the hotel they were free and able to live properly while they await asylum applications.
The funding details were vague and for good reasons. If the Greek authorities discover the exact way that donations are filtered into the project they could tamper or even find a way to cut off the funds. City Plaza Hotel has a website www.solidarity2refugees.gr where stories from the residents can be seen and contact details for the activists are available. Elais told me the best way to give was to contact them via the website or turn up in person and say ‘Hello’.
The Greek government is currently undergoing legal procedures to forcibly remove the occupant of the City Plaza Hotel. Solidarity Activists are standing firm in hope the Greek legal system will delay long enough for them to help hundreds and prove a point.
“This project is more cost effective and humane than the camps, ultimately our example will show the Greek society and demand from the government that there is a better alternative than the current refugee policy in Greece”.
In March the ‘Dublin Regulation’ is likely to begin being utilized to its full potential across European Union member states. Under the terms and conditions of the ‘Dublin Regulation’ tens of thousands could be sent back to the country where they registered, consequently Greece and Italy. Greece is ill prepared to welcome the thousands of new arrivals who will come by boat and even less prepared to welcome those sent back from other countries across Europe. The rise of populism has spurred hard stances on migration policy aimed at appeasing voters in Europe and with upcoming elections in France, Germany and Holland the deportations are likely increase.
If Greece hangs on the edge of another humanitarian crisis, then those in government have to consider alternative planning for refugee housing. The camps to the north and the islands have almost reached capacity and new ideas by the solidarity activists could be Greece’s answer to this summer’s crisis.
January 2017
