Interior minister Yiannis Ragoussis on Friday reiterated the government's decision that there will be no isolated or mass legalisations of illegal migrants in Greece, during a press conference on the occupation of an Athens University Law School building in central Athens since Monday by some 250 illegal migrants, all from North African countries, in demand of across-the-board legalisation of all migrants in Greece, both legal and illegal.
After all-night negotiations with the migrants, they finally abandoned the Law School building, currently closed for renovation, in the early morning hours of Friday and were relocated to a neo-classical building a few kilometers away after a tentative agreement was reached with its owner.
Ragoussis also said that a prosecutor would launch procedures to attribute responsibilities to all those who had taken part in the procedure of occupation of the Law School.
Meanwhile, members of the Solidarity Initiative for the hunger-striking illegal migrants at the Law School charged "wretched living conditions" in the neoclassical building.
They said that the migrants and supporters "left the Law School with their heads high".
"With a march, carrying their belongings, we came here to face wretchedness. The building conceded is not adequate for even 100 people. At this time the migrants are piled together, while there are no toilet facilities. The entire building has not been made available, but only the first floor and the basement. A total of 80 people were asleep in the yard until 6:00 in the morning and, as soon as it started to drizzle, they were moved to other solidarity premises in Athens," Solidarity Committee member Petros Giotis said.
The illegal migrants, on their part, said they will carry on with their hunger strike until they are "vindicated".
At this time, 157 of the illegal migrants and 15 members of the Solidarity Committee are being accommodated at the neoclassical building on Epirou street.
Roughly 250 illegal immigrants -- all from North African countries -- abandoned an under renovation Athens Law School building in the early morning hours of Friday, ending a standoff that drew even more attention to the spectre of illegal migration, while at the same time reopening heated debate on a controversial law that bestows "asylum" on practically every tertiary educational institution in Greece.
The group of migrants camped inside the law school building and began a hunger strike, as they said, demanding that European Union member-state Greece grant them and all illegal immigrants in the country legalisation and even naturalisation.
The illegal migrants, all men, evacuated the building in downtown Athens and headed -- along with supporters affiliated with migrants' rights groups and leftist political groupings -- to a neo-classical building a few kilometres away, and after a cursory agreement was achieved with the building's owner.
The agreement foresees their stay there for no more than 15 days.
The entire group was ferried from the large island of Crete via ferry boat and arrived at dawn on Monday. Most of the migrants ostensibly lack residency papers and even travel documents, working as farm help and unskilled construction workers in Crete, one of the most prosperous regions in the east Mediterranean country of 11 million.
"The government calmly and decisively ensured the peaceful and safe exit of this group from the university and the termination of the asylum's trespassing, all while at the same time defending the rule of law," government spokesman Yiorgos Petalotis said.
source: ana-mpa
