After shopping and taking in the washing on Monday morning,
31 August, we went along to the Port Police building to join the volunteers who
were supporting the refugees. Lin helped handout nappies and packets of biscuits
and Simon went and bought and fitted a battery light for the storeroom. We also took some spare clothes and a kid's hat. Next day a man was marching around with a T shirt of the OEMK trade union organisation that Vadim had given Lin!
The
volunteers are mostly expats from Britain and New Zealand and holiday makers
who have given their time, with a couple of people who have flown over from the
US specifically to help out. But the task is daunting, with 1,000-2,000
refugees, including a lot of children and babies – one woman gave birth a
couple of days ago. Although the volunteers have been stripping the
supermarkets there is never enough to go round.
A couple of Iraqis were very agitated because one had had
all his money, $2100, stolen and the other his mobile phone. They had heard
that the Port Police had arrested a thief. We asked the Port Police, who said
that it was not a thief they had arrested and that the tent city, where the
Iraqis lived was the responsibility of the regular police. He made a couple of
phone calls and told them that the police had not arrested anyone. The Iraqis
suspected the Algerians, who had come through Turkey having failed to get to
Italy through Libya.
Before we went off for a beer one Syrian refugee approached
Simon to ask a favour – he wanted his mobile phone charged as he had not been
able to speak to his family for five days.
When Simon returned with the phone in the afternoon the guy
told his story. He was from Damascus and had worked for the Red Crescent and
then for the Danish Refugee Council. When their funding ran down he and others
were made redundant. He and his friend, a doctor, had flown from Damascus to
Istanbul, then been sent to Izmir, which they hated, Bodrum, which was
expensive, and Fethiye, before arriving at Didim. They had been trying to get
across on a yacht (more like a wooden tub), which was safer, though twice the
price of a dinghy, but it never materialized, so they paid $1400 to cross in a
rubber dinghy with an outboard. There were sixty people squashed in the dinghy.
They had been told that they would be going to Samos, but fifteen minutes before
they left they were pointed to Farmakonisi. One guy had volunteered to drive
the dinghy, for which he got a free passage, though he had no experience. They
were given a mobile phone and told that the smugglers would be watching them to
make sure they were OK. After one and a half hours they landed on the beach on
Farmakonisi, where they were stranded for three days as more and more refugees
arrived. Eventually the coastguard picked them up and brought them to Leros.
He, like most of the refugees, was hoping to get to Germany. They guy who had
driven the dinghy was arrested as a people trafficker and taken off in
handcuffs.
On Tuesday, 1st September, we went along to the
Port Police building at 10 and helped to distribute milk to the children and
then water and sandwiches to the adults. We have to restrict the milk to babies, young children and pregnant women. Although older children plead for milk, people are very understanding.
A number of people had medical
problems, so we tried to find a doctor. Eventually he found a Syrian dentist,
who said he could help a guy with kidney pains. By this time some doctors from
MSF had opened a clinic in a shed in the Port Police yard and sorted him out.
Registration with the Port Police for today’s new arrivals was going painfully
slowly. Once they have registered with the Port Police, now handled with the
help of Frontex, they have to wait days for their registration as refugees with
the regular police so that they can get their papers and leave, either buying
their own ferry tickets or waiting for the refugee ferry, whenever that might
come.
At midday we went off for a drink with some of the
volunteers, Matina, who is the Greek woman who organizes the Leros Solidarity
group(her facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/matina.katsiveli the Leros Solidarity Network is at http://www.lsn.gr/?lang=en and its facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/lerossn/photos_stream ) and two women from the UNHCR. Ana, a Spanish woman, had arrived a couple
of days before, having had twelve hours’ notice that she was going to Greece. She
is a tough young woman – she has worked for two years in Syria, a year in
Somalia and had just been in Ukraine for a year. She explained the priorities
and constraints of the UNHCR and stressed the need for everyone to work
together. The UNHCR could not just hand out money, everything had to be
properly costed and authorized and absolutely transparent. They also had to
collaborate with the national and local authorities, which meant long
negotiations. I commented that they should do what they could within their
legal and bureaucratic constraints and we could do things that they could not
do because we did not face such constraints. Ana insisted that she could not
liaise with all the individual volunteers, but that everything had to go
through Matina, so that there could be coordinated action. The problem is that
Matina is overwhelmed and exhausted. Certainly there does need to be better organization.
There are too many volunteers in the morning and not enough in the afternoon,
to provide shoes and clothes, and not enough in the evening to help distribute
the evening meals. The shopping for the morning distribution is a bit limited,
which is OK because everything is welcomed by the refugees, but it would be
better if there were a more systematic assessment of needs and provision made
accordingly. The problem is that volunteers come and go, very few are here for
a long time, while Matina, as she said, has been dealing with the problem for
years.
Ana insisted that there should be a proper assessment of the
refugees when they arrive to identify those with urgent needs and those who had
money to support themselves. We explained that it was impossible to identify
who had money, except by observing who had bags of shopping in their camp and
that those who had money were not interested in our meagre provisions. Ana
thought we should give meal vouchers to the needy cases to be used in local
restaurants, but I explained that there were not many restaurants, that they
were expensive and many of them would not serve refugees.
The volunteers were very impatient and did not seem to
appreciate that things take time, understandably they were preoccupied with the
problem now, of getting food and water to people, installing toilets and
showers and somewhere to sleep. Ana and Matina explained that they had already
made good progress. MSF was providing mattresses, blankets and sleeping bags
and they had got permission to open a disused hospital building, which has
showers and toilets, as a reception centre. They just need approval from
Athens, which may prove a problem as there is no government. Ana confirmed that
there would be food for the refugees in the evening and that she could handle
the distribution. The problem with the evening meal is that the Port Police are
responsible for paying for food for those in their compound and the regular
police for food for those in tent city and elsewhere, but neither have any
money as it is the end of the month. Failing anything else, Ana said, the UNHCR
can pay.
(Jad and Julie post their diaries with photos on their facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/jad.adams.7?fref=ts https://www.facebook.com/julie.peakman The Leros Solidarity Network with pictures and information is at
We went along to Poppy’s for beer and lunch. Poppy has gone
to Athens and in her absence the café is full of refugees, many of whom sit for
hours without buying anything or just buying one drink. Poppy is very tough with
them.
In the evening the outboard came back. It turned out that
the problem was old fuel, which looked and smelt wrong. The outboard man cleaned the carburetor and
fuel tank and replaced the fuel filter and filled the tank with new fuel and now
it runs perfectly.
After dinner on board Simon went along to the Port Police to
see if they needed any help. Matina was just coming out and said they did not
need any help now, but Judith might need help distributing sleeping bags at 11
pm. Simon pleaded the need for his beauty sleep and came back for coffee and an
early night.
There are lots of photos on the links above, but here are four of ours.
Makeshift living arrangements on waste land
Tent city, tents supplied by MSF
A small settlement by the wall.
The single tap in tent city, catering for over 1000 people (there is no toilet - there is one toilet in the port police yard, but access is restricted)
The Guardian posted a video of the Leros crisis a couple of weeks ago (http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2015/aug/18/greek-island-leros-europe-migrant-crisis-video) with some dreadful comments posted by Daily Mail readers.
Wednesday 2nd September
On Wednesday morning, September 2nd, we went up to the Port Police at ten to
distribute food and water, nappies, shoes and clothes. Just as we arrived a new
boatload of people, about 100, came in. We gave them water and biscuits and
milk for the children, but they did not seem to be in too bad condition. Another
coastguard boat came in a couple of hours later with 100 more people – the
coastguard said that they had taken these people off the water, though they
were not wet, so had probably been picked up from dinghies or a yacht. They said there
were 530 people on Farmakonisi who they would be bringing over in relays today,
so we will go back to help when we see more people coming in. We have had a lot
of help with distribution from refugees, so that we are not having to carry
masses of water to and fro. There was a young woman in floods of tears who had
just arrived from Farmakonisi and was upset because she did not want to sleep
on the ground. We later discovered from her friend that she was traumatized because
their boat had caught fire when they were below. They came up on deck and the
young woman had wanted to jump in the water, even though she could not swim.
Fortunately they were picked up by the coastguard just in time. She was still
crying when we went back in the evening.
Simon had help from a
Palestinian, originally from Haifa, who had fled Damascus when ISIS took over
their camp. Most people are very grateful and helpful, but there is a handful,
mostly young Iraqis, who try to grab at everything. We have been impressed by
the Port Police, who have been sympathetic and understanding. Of course, they
have to shout to keep people in line as they wait to register, but there is no
bullying or threats. The refugee ferry, Eleftherios Venizelos, should come tonight
to take those who are registered to Athens, but we were told that it might not
come as there are so many people to be picked up from Rhodes, Symi and Kos,
before it gets here (it is one of the largest ferries in the Mediterranean,
with a capacity of 2500 passengers and 1100 cars). In that case people will
have to wait another four or five days, by which time there could be 4,000
refugees waiting here to get to Athens, unless another ferry can be found. A
few people managed to buy tickets on the Diagoras last night, but there were
few places left.
We went for a beer and lunch at Marietta’s and she told has
that they had given a room to a Syrian family who had been sleeping in the road
for four days. Their neighbour immediately complained that they were allowing ‘those
people’ into their room. Marietta was specially upset because they thought she
was doing it for money. We talked to a Syrian software engineer who is waiting
to leave, who was refused a room at the hotel because he was Syrian. As Marietta
says, the way in which it provokes racism among some of the local population is
as distressing as the fate of the refugees themselves.
Matina asked us to come back to help at seven. The coastguard boat sat on the quay all afternoon, but it went out about five. Just before
seven a coastguard boat arrived with another 150 refugees from Farmakonisi. We
went back to the Port Police to give them water and biscuits. They were
desperate, with a lot of families with young children and babies. Many of them
had not eaten for three days, sitting out in the sun on Farmakonisi. There was
a man with a broken leg, a young man who had had convulsions three times, a man
with diahorrea, a sick baby and everyone was very distressed. There was no
doctor on site. Those who needed urgent medical care were told that they could
go to the hospital after they had registered, once they had permission from the
Port Police. We had only three bottles for the babies, which we gave to the
three smallest we saw, but no formula for them. Frontex processed them quickly
and humanely.
A Greek man exploded at Ana, the UNHCR representative, for
failing to give anybody any information about when they would get food, where
they could get water and what was happening to them. At our meeting yesterday
Ana had stressed that information was the most important thing for them. She
told me that she was going to have an information meeting for those in the
compound, but it never happened. I think she is in her first position of
responsibility and is clearly out of her depth. She wants to organize systematic
assessment of the refugees and a system of distribution whereby she will sit at
a table and people will queue up, which is completely impractical in these
circumstances. Last night she distributed sleeping bags at 11pm, when most
people were already asleep, so they had to be woken up to receive them. Boxes
of sleeping bags and hygiene kits were delivered today, but Ana did not want me
to give them to families as they registered, she wants to distribute them tomorrow.
Ana disappeared up into the Port Police office, presumably
to see about giving people an evening meal, which had not appeared. It turned
out that neither the Port Police nor the regular police had any money to feed
people, so there was no evening meal. There was nothing more we could do – we had
given everybody water and there was no more food. Just as we were about to
leave we heard that there another 250 refugees arriving. Since we had nothing
to give them, and there we enough people to give them water, we went back to
the boat for a late dinner. There was no sign of the refugee ferry.
So today has been more than hectic. This morning Frontex
said there were 1800 refugees on the island (the population of Lakki is 1900).
Today another 600 arrived. Heaven knows what will happen tomorrow. 100 or so left on the regular ferry this evening, but again all the tickets were sold.
Thursday 3rd September
Today’s photo of the little boy drowned off Bodrum moved us
to tears, while David Cameron’s refusal to countenance taking more refugees
provoked our fury and shame to be British. The number of refugees in Lakki now outnumbers
the local population. Although there is some resentment, there is still a lot
of sympathy – people are conscious of their own history – and there are no
signs of overt tension between refugees and the local population. One source of
friction is litter, but this morning we saw a group of refugees with black bin
bags going around and collecting litter, I think on their own initiative.
Tension mounts between Ana, the UNHCR representative, and
the volunteers, with Matina and the Leros Solidarity Network caught in the
middle. Matina told the international volunteers to
distribute biscuits yesterday to clear out the store room. The volunteers
thought this was in order to make room for the anticipated UN foodstuffs but
none have arrived. It seems that Matina has been told to up her management
style by Ana and the order to clear the store room is a product of this.
Nobody knows what is happening, least of all the refugees. Leros is a
relatively small part of the overall crisis – it is reported today that 15,000
are waiting to leave Lesbos - but it is small island with few resources and
obviously not a major priority for the UNHCR or Athens.
We went along to the Port
Police at ten. The guys from Frontex were registering some of last night’s
arrivals and a new intake of 100 out in the street because there was no more
room in the yard.
We distributed water, milk for the kids, biscuits, chocolate
croissants and bread and olives, first to the new arrivals, many of whom had
not eaten for two or three days, but the food soon ran out. There had been no
evening meal the night before, so those without money outside the compound were
also very hungry. Simon went and bought some big bin bags and recruited ten
teams to pick up litter in the camp and the streets around, because litter is
one of the things that most disturbs the local people. We also distributed 100
or so UNHCR Hygiene packs (soap, flannel, toothbrush, toothpaste etc) to
families. They had been sitting in the store for three days because Ana did not
want to distribute them until she had set up a system. Our system was for Radvan,
a Syrian refugee who had worked in the construction industry and had not eaten
for two days, to identify the most needy families and to give them the packs.
He was a tower of strength in distributing everything. Some of the Iraqis
accused him of favouring Syrians, but Kate said that was nonsense, he was
giving the packs to every family (many of the Iraqis are single men). When all
of the food and most of the water had been handed out there was nothing more
for us to do and we went to Poppy’s for a beer.
 |
| Camping in the port police yard |
It seems that there will be
no food this evening, so I gave Anne, who has a car, some money donated by our
friends and asked her to get some food from Kamara for this evening. Matina has
arranged for a local bakery to provide filled rolls for 1.80 euros, but they
need 24 hours’ notice and we never know that far in advance whether or not
there will be food in the evening. Just before we left Radvan asked me to get
him a T shirt, jeans and flip-flops because he had lost his bag and only had
the clothes he was standing up in. Simon told him he would see him at 7.
As we were having a beer the
refugee ferry, Eleftheria Venizelos, came in. As the ferry came in, the
coastguard boat also came in with 150 new arrivals,
who had to wait until the
ferry had been loaded. We said goodbye to our Syrian friends at the next table,
who were hoping to get to Holland, and went round to the ferry quay to see
everybody off. Simon took a photo and was admonished by the Port Policeman,
though it was OK when he saw it was innocuous,
but he said ‘they have had enough
pain, we do not want to make it worse’. Eventually 1200 refugees boarded. It
was a very poignant moment seeing off so many people, many of whom we had got
to know, going off on the next stage of their travels.
We were overwhelmed by
their thank-yous as we wished them luck.
Simon went back to the Port Police at three to help the new
arrivals. The existing people in the port police yard were being released, all
sitting while their names were called. Radvan was waiting there, so he still could
not get out. The new arrivals, including an old woman in a wheelchair (god
knows how she got across, had to sit on the pavement outside until space had
been cleared. Simon and Spiros handed out all the remaining water, cups and a
few biscuits. Simon had a long talk with the port policeman escorting the
group, who was very humane and sympathetic. As he said, ‘they have their
rights, but we cannot meet them’. The port police have been assigned four extra
posts to deal with the massive work of ferrying people from Farmakonisi, picking
them out of the sea, registering, feeding and caring for them.
After tea, we at last found time to hose the boat down. Simon
went up to the Chinese shop to get clothes for Radvan, but decided that it
would be easier to give him the money and let him buy them himself now he had
been released from the Port Police. After a shower and a quick drink Simon went
back to the Port Police to help hand out the evening meals. We had ordered 350
meals from Poppy’s tavern at Marikhia, for the 150 newcomers and a further 200
expected in the evening. We gave out the 150 meals in a very smooth operation. Spiros came over to ask us to go to the pharmacy to get some Insulin for a young diabetic whose insulin had been destroyed by the heat. He was now on a drip in hospital, but was hoping to go to Athens on the regular ferry tonight. Simon had no mney with him, so Judith agreed to go. There
was no sign of Radvan, so Simon went back to the boat and we headed out to
dinner.
On the way to dinner Simon popped in to the Port Police.
Radvan was now outside, but he had still not eaten and wanted to help hand out
the dinners, as the further 200 refugees had arrived. Simon smuggled him back
into the compound as a helper, so that he could get dinner, and gave him some
money in an envelope to get clothes. Spiros had managed to get him a bed in a
hotel in Alinda. He was paying 30 euros for a three-bedded room and had got two
other rooms at the same price for families. There were enough people to hand
out the dinners, so Simon went on to meet up with Lin for dinner at To Petrino.
And so to bed!
Friday 4 September
Annie arrives today. We did our shopping first thing in the
morning and then went to distribute breakfast for the refugees in the compound,
milk for the children, nappies and wipes for the babies and clothes and shoes
for the children until we had nothing left to distribute. At midday the
coastguard boat brought another 100 in. Fortunately a lot of water and sesame
bars were delivered in time to distribute them to the newcomers, but we had to
leave to meet Annie off the ferry. There has been no sign of UNHCR Ana, but
presumably she has been busy negotiating. MSF have got toilets and showers to
install in the proposed reception building, but they will not arrive until
Saturday and they are afraid that the council will not be able to install them
at the weekend. We were told that the Port Police owe 18,000 euros to the local
restaurants who provided evening meals, so they will not provide any more. Last
night dinner was paid for by volunteer donations, but there is not enough money
or capacity to provide for those who have been processed and are living outside
the compound. Of course, many of them have some money so can buy their own
food, but many have nothing and even those with money need to save every penny
they can for their onward journey.
Annie arrived on the catamaran at 12.30 and we went off for
lunch and a beer at Poppy’s.
Radvan joined us. He had been to buy clothes and
was proudly wearing a garish pair of Bermuda shorts – we told him that he would
need better camouflage for trying to get through borders! He confirmed that
there has been no sectarian religious tension in the camp, which is heartening.
We took the evening off to go for dinner with Simon and Christiana, who also
arrived today, at Pandeli. The refugees in the compound got minimal food for
dinner.
Saturday 5th September
The coastguard boat came in with 100 more people at 8 am.
Simon went over to give them water. This lot were mostly men – presumably they
had brought the families over last night. Simon, Lin and Annie went to help give
breakfast for everyone in the compound, which we did in record time with plenty
of volunteers. We then went back to the boat and left for Arkhangelos at 11.30, promising to be back next Tuesday or Wednesday.
Our friends report that there is a real problem knowing how
many people are coming when, so that we can have food and drinks ready for
them. Either the Port Police don’t know or they won’t say. It is so chaotic
that it is probably the former.
UNHCR Ana is hardly seen – she is busy trying to put her
systems in place, but nothing appears on the ground. She arrived with more sleeping bags on
Saturday evening, but said that she would give them out herself (once she had
got her system in place?), but then went off for dinner and was not seen again.
Anne organized souflakis for everybody on Saturday evening, because otherwise
they would not be fed, but this costs a fortune. On Sunday she and two
Lithuanian volunteers made and distributed hundreds of sandwiches. A
nine-year-old boy from Idlib in Syria has arrived having been separated from
his parents (
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10206187388755180&set=a.3317239541316.136449.1578067359&type=1
.
On Monday MSF had installed toilets and showers in the tent
city and Ana from UNHCR had secured the reception centre, which just needs to
be repaired to provide shelter, toilets and showers. Still the Port Police have
no money to feed the 500 or so refugees in the compound, so the volunteers are now
having to feed them with the bare minimum twice a day, paying with money from
donations.
The mayor is quoted as saying that he wants to create an Amygdaleza, the notorious detention centre for immigrants outside Athens which was closed down earlier this year, but ‘under more humane conditions’. This will be at Lepida, the even more notorious psychiatric hospital, which is now derelict and is three kilometers from town. Instead of providing services to the refugees where they are, the mayor has instructed the municipal services to clear waste land at Lepida and threatens to move the refugees there, even though they have been processed and are free to go where they like. If they do not move, the municipality will cease to offer any help. One of his entourage has even argued that they should not speed up the registration process because this will make Leros more attractive to refugees! http://www.efsyn.gr/arthro/leros-anthizei-pali-hamogelo-sta-prosopa-ton-ethelonton
Wednesday September 9th
“The mayor held a public meeting last
night to discuss the situation of the refugees. Many of the public were
shouting about refugees on the streets and the dirt, not mentioning the fact
that the authorities had provided no toilets or showers (just the one toilet
for 1500 refugees). No mention of the huge amount of business the refugees are
bringing in. Nothing at all about why the authorities are failing to give food
to refugees or how the volunteers are undertaking all the work the authorities
should be doing to ensure the refugees do not go hungry. [this is by no means
the view of everybody – many local people are still giving food, clothes and
money and helping to distribute it and many people we talk to are still
sympathetic. Probably the meeting was only attended by malcontents and the
mayor’s supporters. SC] …
The meeting was full of people who simply want the refugees out
of sight. Many Greeks were taken in by other countries when they escaped the
famine, and their own civil war by migrating to America and Australia. What
short memories people have. Why are all the empty buildings not opened to the
refugees. Instead, the Mayor has padlocked the reception building Matina Katsiveli was getting ready where families could
sleep comfortably and have toilets and showers. Can anyone believe such a
strange reaction? The volunteers do not understand it. We are also surprised that the Greek Government are letting the mayor over-ride the Health Minister on the decision about the use of the reception building which they have agreed the volunteers could use. …
So the mayor is still insisting the refugees go to Lepida, a
place the volunteers cannot reach. …
All Ok this morning, plenty of volunteers, we had made lots of
sandwiches, and our American friends Chris Angiel and Stella H Perlman brought more. The children's milk
round is always popular with lots of little white moustaches asking for more.
We have some new Greek volunteers helping to give out clothes and some of the
kind locals are donating clothes.
There are also now 3 Danish women who have brought donations and
are paying for a local restaurant to make up sandwiches every evening for
people in the camp. Thanks to all the contributors from Denmark.
A consignment from Ireland landed late last night when Anne Tee had
no baby bottles to give to a woman for her baby. The shops were shut and she
was wondering what to do. She opened the box and low and behold ! Baby bottles
right at the top. Just the thing needed. Thank you all the lovely people in
Ireland for donating stuffs.
Mary Coughlan, who is national treasure in Ireland, a well known
folk/rock singer, heard our chum Patrick Muldowney speak on the Joe Duffy show (RTE Irish
Radio @talktojoe1850) As a result, she has organized a series of 3 concerts
starting this Sunday in Whelans and the 2 following Sundays .
She will give the first concert this Sunday with guest artists and the proceeds
going towards Doctors without Frontiers who have been helping in Leros, and the
second Sunday’s concert with Mary Black who is a huge music legend here in
Ireland will give the proceeds to Leros; tickets already sold out! Thanks from
all the volunteers here to Mary Coughlan and Mary Black for their wonderful kind gesture and
for Patrick for highlighting the plight of the refugees in Leros.”
At lunch at Poppy’s there was
a meeting at the next table involving some of the volunteers, including some
new arrivals, which we did not join as we were only staying for a few more
days, but they were discussing financial and organizational issues, which we
thought was a bit strange because neither Julie and Anne, who are organizing the
international volunteers, nor Matina, who heads the Leros Solidarity Network,
were at the meeting. I asked Kate why they were not there and she replied that
they had been invited but had not wanted to come, so I don’t think this is a symptom
of a split in the volunteers, just of some people’s love of meetings. Next morning I spoke to Julie
on the phone and she said that they all knew what was going on so did not need
to go to the meeting. Later the Dutchman was briefing Anne on the outcome of
the meeting.
Thursday 10 September
There are many fewer refugees
in Lakki. Last night quite a lot got on the Blue Star ferry Diagoras, which made
an unscheduled stop in Leros to take them to Athens, and we have seen no new
arrivals in the last 24 hours. In the morning the Port Police compound was
empty and was being bulldozed clean.
Workmen were laying drains
from the new showers and toilets in the camp and police were clearing all
the refugees from the pavement and little park in front of the school.
It
looked rather as though Lakki was being cleared of refugees, but I later
discovered that the police were only clearing the area around the school.
I bumped into UNHCR Ana, who
told me that 900 refugees had left on the ferry last night and 800 the night
before so there were very few left, though it did not look to us as though
anything like 900 left on Diagoras. I was later told that 350 had left, with
another 150 expected this morning.
We met the regional UNHCR representative
from Kos while waiting for the catamaran to arrive to take Annie home. He said
that the mayor’s objection to using the building by the hospital as a reception
centre is that the way to the entrance takes them past the school, so the UNHCR
will try to negotiate with the hospital to allow them to go in through the
hospital. They are also planning to negotiate with the army to allow them to
keep stocks of food and drink on Farmakonisi, and even tents or housing units,
because with winter weather the refugees could be there for three or four days.
He said that the Kos mayor is even worse than the Leros one. Leros has agreed
to have a reception centre, the only issue being where it will be, but Kos
refuses to have one at all. Samos has a reception centre which is working very
well.
Ana and Tevon had been at the
mayor’s public meeting and said the atmosphere was horrible. But Ana thought
that those who were not prepared for any dialogue isolated themselves by taking
such a hard line. One person proposed having a demonstration against the
refugees, but only a handful of people indicated that they would participate.
Just before the catamaran
came in, the coastguard boat arrived with 150 refugees,so the catamaran had to squeeze on the end of the quay.
The refugees were soon disembarked and lined up on the quay.
Some of the port police wear
surgical masks and gloves, which sends a horrible message, but apparently it is
an individual decision so they cannot be asked not to. The refugees were processed on the quay by Frontex.
When Annie had left on the
catamaran, Simon went to the port police building to see if we could help feed
the new arrivals. Anne was there and said that they had had a lot of sandwiches
left over from last night, but they had all been thrown away when the yard was
cleared, so we only had juice and biscuits to distribute until she could go
back to Partheni to fetch more sandwiches.
By lunchtime the drain to
tent city was complete. They now have three men’s and two women’s toilets,
plumbed in to the main sewer, and a shower. All the tents now have camp beds. A
fantastic improvement, at last!
Another 100 refugees arrived
at 4pm on the coastguard boat. They were marched down to the ferry quay, we
presumed for processing by Frontex, but as we came back from our swim they were
being marched back again, more likely a sign of disorganization than
super-efficient processing.
100 more refugees arrived in the evening, so 350 have
arrived today and put in the Port Police compound until they get their papers.
Friday 11 September
The coastguard boat arrived at 9 am from Farmakonisi with
130 refugees. They were held for processing on the ferry quay. We took them
water and biscuits, which did not please a guy who had set up a stall to sell
them food and drink once they had been processed.
We did the usual distribution of milk and chocolate
croissants for the children and cheese sandwiches for the adults for the 350
people in the Port Police compound, then we distributed clothes and shoes. We
have plenty of baby’s shoes and dainty women’s shoes, but very few for the
children and the men. We will probably have to buy a lot of trainers at the
Chinese shop because flip-flops and crocks are no use for the walking they are
going to have to do.
Matina was meant to be having a day off, but she came in
with more donated clothes. She told us that the mayor has invited one of the
Golden Dawn leaders to the island to join a demonstration at the proposed
reception building that the mayor announced at last week’s public meeting.
Another 150 people arrived by coastguard boat in the middle
of the day. We had lunch with Frank and Lynn at Poppy’s.
Frank told us of their experience of arriving refugees in a
bay on the east of Pserimos. They were woken about 5 in the morning by shouts
and cries to see refugees scrambling ashore from a half sunk dinghy. They told
the refugees how to get to Pserimos town (they had been going the wrong way)
and contact the coastguard via a phone call to Kos marina. People from a
neighbouring Dutch boat inspected the abandoned dinghy and found a 40hp
outboard attached, under water. The Dutch lifted the outboard, which looked in
excellent condition, and made off with it. Some time later a fast RIB arrived
from Turkey and a couple of guys got in the water and searched around the
dinghy, obviously hoping to retrieve their outboard, and appearing very
disgruntled when they could not find it. (That afternoon the coastguard boat
brought three big outboards back from Farmakonisi, together with its load of
refugees).
After lunch went to take water to the new arrivals, who were
being processed on the ferry quay. There was nobody with a car around, so Simon
took bottles of water in relays on his bike and Lin distributed them. Lin
talked to the Port Policeman on the gate who was very upset that the café owner
was ripping the refugees off.
After a cup of tea, Simon went back at 4pm to join the party
who were organizing the cleaning of the reception building. Nothing was
happening, so we distributed water and biscuits to this morning’s arrivals, who
were having to sit outside on the pavement until yesterday’s arrivals were
released from the port police compound, which the police were doing, but very
slowly. We then went around the building to see what had to be done and
discussed how to recruit refugees to help clean. The problem is that as soon as
they are released from the port police they go into town to try to buy food and
drink and ferry tickets, so we decided that we would have to do it later. With
some people going to hotels, with camp-beds in the tents and now the hospital
building, nobody needs to sleep on the street.
We have a Syrian doctor in the compound. A gynaecologist, he
headed a large hospital, had a comfortable house and two farms. They cut down
all his trees, confiscated his house and farms and threatened to shoot him –
because he treated women.
After ouzo and mezzes at Tacis’s, we went back to the Port
Police building to distribute food at 7pm. We distributed hundreds of
sandwiches to those inside and outside the compound, milk for the children,
nappies for the babies and some clothes and shoes. About 8 pm hundreds of hot
meals arrived, ordered by the Port Police, who have now received money from Athens
(funded by the EU). After distributing these meals we went back to the boat for
a light supper and bed.
Saturday 12th September
We went to feed the 350 refugees in the Port Police compound
as usual. Simon took a little girl and her mother to the pharmacy to get some
anti-histamine – she held his hand all the way. We then popped in to the
supermarket for her mum to get her some M&Ms before we went back to the
compound and checked them back in. The young Syrian man who came with us as an
interpreter is hoping to get to Holland. He plans to buy a Greek passport and
fly there.
It is ridiculous that Germany is willing to take the Syrian
refugees, but they are not able to fly there without a visa or an EU passport.
Surely Germany could agree with the airlines to allow Syrians to fly direct
from Athens (or even Turkey) without a visa (or even issue Schengen visas to
the Syrians – that would put the cat among the pigeons!)? This would be great
PR and good business for the budget airlines.
Lin and Simon then went down to the ferry quay to give some
food and water to the new arrivals. 170 are expected today, against 350
yesterday, and the coastguard seem to be clearing Farmakonisi every day, so
nobody is spending more than a day there. Nobody knows what to expect over the
winter. Most people expect the flow to die down by the end of October because
of the bad weather – there can be very strong winter storms – but I am not so
sure. The traffickers don’t care about the safety of the refugees and there are
periods of calm weather, but it will mean that refugees might be stranded on
Farmakonisi for days on end until it is calm enough to take them off.
After a quick lunch Simon winterized the watermaker and
changed the engine oil and filter while Lin, who had been awake since 5, slept
for a couple of hours. Elefterios Venizelos, the refugee ferry, came in at 7pm,
but many people left on the Blue Star ferries the last couple of nights and
many more have already bought tickets on regular ferries, so there were only
about 100 going on it. The police were so slow in processing people that 160
were left behind, but there is another ferry on Sunday. Just before it came in,
the coastguard boat unloaded another 180 refugees. In the evening we went for
dinner at Ostria with Frank and Lin.
Sunday 13th September
We went down to give breakfast and distribute clothes as
usual. Several people had a lot of insect bites, apparently there are bed bugs
in the army blankets on Farmakonisi. Simon found an open pharmacy and bought a
lot of anti-bite cream.
The hospital building that UNHCRF Ana was going to get
cleaned three days ago has still not been cleaned so it is not available for
the refugees to sleep in. The tents are overflowing so refugees are having to
sleep in the street again.
News came in that a dinghy with 100 people on board sank at
2 am this morning – there is a strong wind and rough seas – they should never
have set off in such conditions, but the smugglers don’t care and the Turkish
police do not try to stop them. The coastguard boats rescued 65, 30 or so swam
ashore, three are dead, including a child, and ten are still missing. The survivors
are coming in on the coastguard boat at mid-day. Unfortunately we have already
distributed all the clothes, but there will be food and water and a
psychologist has been mobilized. This is the first tragedy here since 19 died
in July (
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/07/18-feared-dead-people-smugglers-boat-capsizes-greek-islands
). Everybody is very shaken and meeting
them will be very traumatic for all of us.
When we got to the ferry quay the situation was far worse
than we had expected – we were told that 45 people had died. An Iraqi who had
been an interpreter for the Australian military told us what had happened. They
had paid 2700 euros each to be taken to Greece by boat, with children half
price (this is double the price of going in a dinghy because it is considered
to be safer). They had been taken by bus from Bodrum to Didim, where they were
led to a field behind the beach. The traffickers looked like gangsters – armed
toughs ordering people around. After dark they were taken to the beach and
ferried over in little dinghies to an old wooden gullet anchored offshore.
There had been 270 in the field, but only about 150 managed to get on the boat.
They were told that the weather was good and the sea calm, but as soon as they
set off they discovered this was not true, there was a strong wind and big
seas. After a few kilometres the guy who was driving the boat jumped overboard,
to be picked up by his cronies, and told
two Syrians to take over, using the GPS on their phones to find the way (others
told us later that the trafficker ordered them to hole the boat and jumped off
to be taken away by a speedboat). They motored slowly across to Farmakonisi and
when they were about 600 metres offshore, at 2 a.m., they smashed a hole in the
bottom of the boat and water gushed in. (This is standard practice – they are
told to sink the boat when they see a Greek flag and they will be rescued by
the coastguard. It is probably to make sure that the coastguard do not tow the
boat back to Turkish waters). Many people, mostly women and children, were
trapped below. The boat sank in about five minutes, with only a bit of the
superstructure above water which people could cling on to – many people had
basic buoyancy aids, but most could not swim. Our informant had swum to the
shore with his seventeen-year-old friend and they had then decided to go back
to help rescue more people. In the heavy seas his friend got cramp and said
‘let me die’, but they clung together until they were picked up by the
coastguard boat, which arrived three hours later. (Many of the refugees were
angry that the coastguard had taken so long to get there, but it had been pitch
dark so it was probably some time before the alarm was raised and then the
coastguard boat had to get to Farmakonisi from Lakki). The coastguard told the
refugees not to tell anybody that 45 had died, presumably because they did not
want any bad publicity. They later told us that there were 20 bodies in the
wreck on the bottom of the sea.
Most of the refugees were severely traumatized. One woman
with a child was completely hysterical and was taken straight off to hospital –
the ambulance went to and fro taking the injured to hospital. One man had lost
three brothers, his wife and two children. One man with his daughter had lost
his wife, his brother and his son. His daughter had swallowed a lot of seawater
and inhaled exhaust fumes, so they were taken off to hospital. We provided
basic food, but very few of them could eat anything, though they took water and
fruit juice. They had all lost everything in the disaster – passports, money,
shoes, clothes, mobile phones. The volunteers comforted people as best they
could. Grown men held back their tears until they were comforted by volunteers,
when they would break down in tears. We were also all in tears with them.
We had a break to recover, have a quick lunch and change the
fuel filters on the engine. We went to the Port Police compound at four to buy
and distribute shoes and get pharmaceuticals and buy and distribute cigarettes.
The talk is now of 70 or more dead – nobody knows how many were on the boat.
People are still hoping that their friends and relatives will turn up, but the
coastguard have been searching all day and there is no hope of any more survivors.
They have recovered 23 bodies so far, but nobody knows where the bodies will be
taken. The UNHCR has promised to organize decent accommodation for them
tonight, but nobody expects the promise to be realized. Meanwhile the locals
are trying to organize hotels for them.
We were told that the Port Police will issue a statement
tonight and the police will interview all the survivors individually, with a
psychologist. This could be nasty because the police will want to identify the
two guys who holed the boat. Judging by the Greek press coverage so far, the
port police will want to play it down. We were also told that somebody wants to
hold a meeting with all the volunteers to tell them what to say about the
incident, but there is no way that anybody will be gagged.
A TV reporter came into the compound and tried to film the
survivors. The police had earlier warned us that anyone taking photos would be
arrested. We tried to block him and called out the port police, who took him
upstairs and eventually led him out of the compound, where he filmed his report
on the street outside.
After dinner we went to see many of our friends off on the ferry to Athens. It was a moment of great joy as we kissed and embraced them and wished them luck. There are so many such lovely people it is outrageous what they have to go through to find a place to live in peace.
Monday 14th September - Saturday 19 September
We left Lakki on Monday morning to go up to Arkhangelos, ready to lift the boat out in the yard at Partheni, but Julie has kept us all informed through her Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/julie.peakman/posts/1135926509768567
On Monday and Tuesday the volunteers bought shoes and clothes for all the survivors of the tragedy. There is a big question mark over why the coastguard took three hours to reach the survivors. Some of the latter said they were shouting and shining torches and laser pointers towards the shore. At one stage they saw the military on the shore just looking at them, but doing nothing to help those in the water or those who had made it to the rocks.
On Wednesday the refugees were taken to Rhodes, where the bodies had been landed, to identify their loved ones, though the Greek press reported that seven of the survivors had been arrested as suspected people smugglers and taken to Kos. Nobody seems to know what will happen to them next, though there are rumours that they will be flown to wherever they want their bodies buried.
Ana, of UNHCR, stressed to all the volunteers that they must not talk to the press or post anything about the tragedy on social media. She is obsessed with the idea that everybody must speak with a single voice, i.e. hers, even though she is never there when it matters and knows nothing about what is going on. All the refugees we have spoken to want as much publicity for their plight as possible.
The situation has been more manageable this week, with around 100 arriving each day and refugees regularly leaving on the ferries to Piraeus. Although they buy full price tickets (and sometimes double price for first class tickets when all the regular fare tickets have gone), apparently the refugees are not allowed in the saloons on the Blue Star ferried but have to stay outside on deck for the nine-hour overnight crossing to Piraeus. There is very little deck space so no doubt many have to stand.
On Thursday some of the volunteers met for dinner, because quite a few are leaving this week. As some leave, new volunteers arrive, but if the flow continues into November there will be few foreign visitors left, so the whole burden will fall on Matina, Anne and the permanent local residents.
We fly to Athens on Saturday morning, just in time for the election on Sunday, and back to Birmingham via Copenhagen on Monday.
I have not been posting pictures because there is no time
for taking photographs and I do not want to be intrusive, but there are many
pictures on the Leros Solidarity Network’s Facebook page (
https://www.facebook.com/lerossn ).
