NGO employees protest against refugee evictions

Employees in non-governmental organizations on Tuesday called on the Migration Policy Ministry to revoke a decision asking refugees to leave the apartments in which they had been living in order to make way for newcomers, saying these people have nowhere to go.

The employees held a protest rally in front of the Archaeological Museum of Athens earlier on Tuesday and a demonstration is planned to start at 6.30 p.m. from the Haftia district.

The ministerial decision will initially affect about 200 people whose asylum application was approved by July 2017. Those evicted will be given three monthly stipends. The empty apartments will house migrants arriving from the overcrowded camps of Lesvos and Samos.

“The ministry claims that the refugees have completed the integration process and are ready to start their lives alone, which is not true,” one of the employees who asked not to be named told state-run news agency ANA-MPA.

“None of the integration steps have progressed and essentially these people are being asked to integrate by themselves, which is impossible,” she added.

Another employee who also requested her anonymity told ANA-MPA: “We are called upon to evaluate the vulnerability of the refugees – who can leave from the apartments and who cannot. We refuse to do it. Families will be left in the street, homeless, without any care.”