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In Greece, Racist Attacks On The Rise

tesla

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ATHENS, Greece -- The number of racially motivated attacks increased in Greece last year, as did the severity of the violence involved, human rights groups said Wednesday.

The incidents have spiraled as Greece's economy has worsened over the past few years. Relying on international rescue loans to remain solvent, the country has imposed deep spending cuts that have sent unemployment soaring to around 27 percent.

The Racist Violence Recording Network reported 154 cases of racist violence in 2012, including 25 in which the victims said the perpetrators were police. The figures were released a week after more than 30 Bangladeshi workers suffered shotgun wounds on a strawberry farm in southern Greece during a dispute with foremen over back pay.

Kostis Papaioannou, head of the National Commission for Human Rights, said the number of attacks recorded increased 20 percent from the previous year. But, he noted, the true number could be much higher because many victims are afraid to come forward, fearing further mistreatment by authorities or deportation for entering the country illegally.

There have been numerous reports of police, who are at the forefront of a government crackdown on foreigners in the country illegally, mistreating immigrants during routine document checks on the street or during detentions. The police have repeatedly said they investigate all reported cases of mistreatment.

The network, composed of 30 aid and human rights groups, records cases only when it has spoken to the victim themselves.

The 2012 figures "shows some very interesting and very worrying tendencies regarding racist violence in Greece," Papaioannou said. "We have both an increase in the numbers of attacks but also – which is really worrying too – we have an escalation of in the tension of this violence."

The vast majority of attacks occurred in Athens, mainly in inner city neighborhoods. Immigrants are often set upon by groups of men wielding metal bars, chains, brass knuckles, broken bottles, knives and wooden clubs. The victims suffer from broken bones, damage to sight and hearing and extensive bruising, the network said.

One fatality was recorded last year – a 31-year-old Egyptian man who died of head injuries 17 days after falling into a coma following a severe beating, the network said.

Reza Golami, the head of an association of Afghans living in Greece, said many migrants have become too afraid to leave their homes.

"There live with fear inside them, whether it's the fear of the police or the fear of racists," he said. "They don't dare leave their homes to buy a loaf of bread. This is not something that affects men alone, but even women and small children. We have witnessed hundreds of such cases."

Authorities have vowed to crack down on hate crimes in the financially struggling country. Greece is main entry point for migrants entering the European Union illegally, and there has been a surge in popular support for Golden Dawn, an extreme-right xenophobic party, as the financial crisis has deepened.

The government has set up a special unit within the police that deals with racist crimes – a move the rights groups welcomed but said didn't go far enough.

"The main point we would like to emphasize today is the need of the Greek state, of the Greek government, to show more willingness to (prosecute) and punish those responsible for these racist crimes," Papaioannou said.

There are some signs that tolerance for racism is waning.

The strawberry farm shooting caused a national outcry, and authorities moved quickly to arrest and charge the three foremen and the farm owner with attempted murder.

"The inhuman attack of armed men and the injuries of protesting farmers ... are condemned in the most absolute way by the whole of Greek society," government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said of the attack. "This unprecedented and shameful act is foreign to the ethos of Greeks and its handling by authorities will be swift and exemplary."

Authorities have said any of the wounded workers who are in the country illegally will not be prosecuted and will be treated instead as victims of trafficking.

But rights groups say there is still much to be done. They noted that the conditions in which the Bangladeshi strawberry pickers had been working under – living in disused greenhouses or makeshift shacks and being unpaid for months – was a situation that dates back several years.

Papaioannou said there were reports of racist incidents in schools, and minors have been reported to have participated in some racist attacks outside of schools.

"This is a very worrying side of the racist crime phenomenon in Greece," Papaioannou said. "The fact that it is infiltrating schools, that racist groups recruit children in the schools."

In Greece, Racist Attacks On The Rise
 
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Wow,sounds tough.But I see that with all the violence,racism that is going on the immigrants aren't considering a simple option...leave or go back home?
 
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Wow,sounds tough.But I see that with all the violence,racism that is going the immigrants aren't considering a simple option...leave?

why ordinary people have to attack immigrants? is it not govt's job? and what if the guy is a citizen of greece.
 
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why ordinary people have to attack immigrants? is it not govt's job? and what if the guy is a citizen of greece.

Hey,i didn't said that is ok or legal.Just thought that if I were an immigrant to Greece and i couldn't leave my home to buy a loaf of bread in fear that some racists would attack i would pack up my things and get the hell out of there.
 
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Hey,i didn't said that is ok or legal.Just thought that if I were an immigrant to Greece and i couldn't leave my home to buy a loaf of bread in fear that some racists would attack i would pack up my things and get the hell out of there.

or seek govt intervention? police protection? work with anti racism NGOs to identify those who attack you so that others dont do the same.. because its once a few get punished, others will stop.
 
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greece is truning out to be a country full of stupid people , first they went bankerrupt then they became racist ..fail haha
 
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or seek govt intervention? police protection? work with anti racism NGOs to identify those who attack you so that others dont do the same.. because its once a few get punished, others will stop.

Neah,i would personally leave.Guests shouldn't impose,these are the manners i grew up with :P
 
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Neah,i would personally leave.Guests shouldn't impose,these are the manners i grew up with :P

they are not imposing their law, they want local law to be adhered.. after they exhaust these options surely they will leave.. also depends on how long the immigrant has spent his life, if he has got wife and kids and fully settled, he will try his best not to move, unless their lives are really under threat :)
 
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they are not imposing their law, they want local law to be adhered.. after they exhaust these options surely they will leave.. :)

By "impose" i meant overstay their welcome.If the situation is so bad that you can't leave your house than clearly there is a general state of mind in Greece against immigrants,so if they don't want me in their country i would leave.Bare in mind that is not about some random incidents or insults the article talks of a widespread campaign so clearly many of the greeks don't want immigrants.Who am i to argue with them in their country?
 
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By "impose" i meant overstay their welcome.If the situation is so bad that you can't leave your house than clearly there is a general state of mind in Greece against immigrants,so if they don't want me in their country i would leave.Bare in mind that is not about some random incidents or insults the article talks of a widespread campaign so clearly many of the greeks don't want immigrants.Who am i to argue with them in their country?

they can stop any new immigrant, thats their wish.. what they cant is go back on their promise of allowing existing immigrants.. you cant just allow people and force them to leave as you wish..
thats how civilized world behaves..
 
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they can stop any new immigrant, thats their wish.. what they cant is go back on their promise of allowing existing immigrants.. you cant just allow people and force them to leave as you wish..
thats how civilized world behaves..

It depends,if they gave them citizenship...tough luck for the greeks as they to are greeks now.
If they have temporary visa/asylums that changes things.One important thing is that they have to listen what the natives want to not only the goody two shoes in Bruxelles who only give orders left and right.
 
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It depends,if they gave them citizenship...tough luck for the greeks as they to are greeks now.
If they have temporary visa/asylums that changes things.One important thing is that they have to listen what the natives want to not only the goody two shoes in Bruxelles who only give orders left and right.
that can be done by govt.. they can refuge to extend visa..
 
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greece is truning out to be a country full of stupid people , first they went bankerrupt then they became racist ..fail haha

Greece may be a crap country in the West, but the 3rd worlders immigrating from Pakistan must be even more crap if they're so desperate to go over there.

Or is there something missing in this logical analysis? Why immigrate to a country in the middle of crisis, unless they still look like paradise compared to what your people have at home?
 
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Greece may be a crap country in the West, but the 3rd worlders immigrating from Pakistan must be even more crap if they're so desperate to go over there.

Or is there something missing in this logical analysis? Why immigrate to a country in the middle of crisis, unless they still look like paradise compared to what your people have at home?

There is nothing logical about the white man’s prejudice , interestingly north Europeans don’t even consider Greeks to be whites in the real sense , just like Slavs and perhaps many Americans are further down the ladder of who is white and who is not

Anyhow the lead up to Greece’s present state can be summed up as follows

Greece fell in a day or two against the real Nazis without a fight, cowards

Then many years later (present day) they first took money from the Nazi

Then they went near bankrupt and blamed the Nazis

Then finally became racist like the Nazis but not economically successful like them

tch tch tch what a pitiful state of affair for the birth place of western democracy that soon shall be owned by the yellow man from the east .. God Speed!
 
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There is nothing logical about the white man’s prejudice , interestingly north Europeans don’t even consider Greeks to be whites in the real sense , just like Slavs and perhaps many Americans are further down the ladder of who is white and who is not

Anyhow the lead up to Greece’s present state can be summed up as follows

Greece fell in a day or two against the real Nazis without a fight, cowards

Then many years later (present day) they first took money from the Nazi

Then they went bankrupt and blamed the Nazis

Then finally became racist like the Nazis but not economically successful like them

tch tch tch what a pitiful state of affair for the birth place of western democracy that soon shall be owned by the yellow man from the east .. God Speed!

There is no ladder as to Whiteness. If you are European you are White. I am of Northern European stock, yet I know very well that those Slavs are White as snow.

Anyway, this is irrelevant. I asked you a question, and you blew it off with your drivel about Greeks being bad at everything.

So I ask the question again.

Why immigrate to a country in the middle of crisis, unless they still look like paradise compared to what your people have at home?
 
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