Athens, 7th of March: Ministry of Health’s announcement demanded the transfer of the hunger strikers from the building of Hypatia (Ipirou Str & Patission Ave). According to this announcement: “All limits of tolerance and understanding as it concerns the health issues raised practically by the struggle of the immigrants have been expired.”
Meanwhile, the hunger strikers and the people in solidarity have been issued with a notice which is giving instructions for the transfer of all immigrants-workers hunger strikers to public hospitals of Athens.
Yesterday and today, 7/3, corporate media’s journalists and the deputy prime minister Theodoros Pangalos are speaking of “expiration of limits of tolerance” and the violent evacuation of the building of Hypatia, the transfer of the hunger strikers to hospitals and the removal of the people in solidarity.
Evidently, the force of violence against any hunger strikers violates the Constitution itself, but the Greek government has accustomed us to such cruelties. Perhaps it aims for the compulsory feeding of hunger strikers. The State obviously attempts another maneuver: Instead of meeting the rightful demands of the immigrants-workers hunger strikers, it calls upon the compulsory care of doctors in the frame of “proven and unavoidable medical need” or “conservation and survival of human life.”
The hunger strikers in Athens have rejected their compulsory transfer and remain in Hypatia building.
Call for massive presence in solidarity with the hunger strikers
at the building of Hypatia, for any eventuality.
Statement-response to today’s developments,
by the 300 hunger strikers
This morning Mr. Mousionis, representative of the hospitals administration, “visited” the Hypatia building [where the hunger strike takes place in Athens] three times. The first without any document whatsoever, the second time with a document with no signature and only on the third time did he manage to bring the “correct” document.
He came to pass on to us the government demand for all hunger strikers to be transferred to hospitals and to abandon the site of their struggle. Hunger strikers-representatives of ours responded that if he came to tell us that the generous government can offer us a bed in a hospital in order to die on it, he should tell them that a struggle is a struggle, even when death looms. This means that we only go to hospital because those who sent us there continue robbing us off dignity, resulting in our collapse. If they care about our health, they should meet our demands, so that we can return to our homes and to our jobs. In other words: us hunger strikers will only go to hospital when our doctors deem it necessary.
We the hunger strikers want to emphasize yet another time that when we decide something, we do so alone and in our own assemblies, exclusively.
We insist on continuing our struggle until reaching our target. This target comprises the meeting of certain demands, the most important of which have been co-signed by GSEE and ADEDY [the largest mainstream trade unions in the country] as well as many other social bodies supporting us from across Greece – including all the main social bodies of Thessaloniki (the city’s mayoral assembly, the dean of its university, the barristers’ union, the journalist union, the labour union etc) with a collective letter sent to the prime minister on March 4.
We repeat our specific demands that the government refuses to meet (taking the risk of the death of people in struggle) but that are nevertheless supported by social bodies in Greece but also thousands of other unions, organizations and groups across the world:
– The issuing of a residence permit in accordance to article 21, par. 4 of Law 3907/2011
– The review and issuing of a residence permit to all who lost their legal status despite the existence of substantial grounds, combined with the reduction or disconnection of the residence permit to the work credits, as this is a time of financial crisis.
– Reduction of the required residence period of those without papers to 5 years (down from 12 years today) for the issuing of the special residence permit of the new article 44 of Law 3386/05
– Issuing of a residence permit to all those who had their application rejected during the last legalization process of 2005
The 300 Migrant Hunger Strikers in Athens and Thessaloniki
7th of March, 42nd day on hunger strike
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