nightslantern.ca: #Roma / #Greece / #Athens

26.6.17

Greece: on June 21rst thirty Roma communities with five Greek NGO's issued a call for action to protect Roma peoples in the Menidi area of Athens. The neighbourhood is being repeatedly attacked by mobs and teams with firebombs. According to a report by the European Roma Rights Centre the attackers try to drive residents for several generations, out, after a non-Roma child was struck by a bullet from an unknown source. Violence against minorities continues to increase under  austerity and poverty. Social assistance to Roma is being cut back by the State. The ERRC notes Greece's recent history of anti-Roma violence in Etoliko, 2012 and 2013, as a result of group punishment for an incident. To quote the report: “Both in Etoliko in January 2013 and in Menidi in May 2017 the mob attacks were organized and led by known neo-Nazi groups, respectively Golden Dawn and Independent Maeander Nationalists/Combat 18, which subsequently took credit for the attacks. Yet, prosecuting authorities did not make any arrests nor did they proceed to prompt referrals to trial, even after complaints were filed by the Greek Helsinki Monitor. Such developments may only encourage these neo-Nazi groups said Panayote Dimitras, Greek Helsinki Monitor Spokesperson." In 2014 the Pew Research Center revealed that 53% of the Greek people have an unfavourable view of Roma; 66% of the French and 85% of the Italians view Roma unfavourably in their countries. The growing strength of fascism, the European Union's reluctance to act effectively against persecution of Roma peoples, and NATO news media which have ignored this danger to the Roma of Athens, add to consideration of a genocide warning specifically for Greek Roma, amid the genocide warning for European Roma peoples. See previous Slovakia, Europe,  France,  Czech Republic,  etc..    Partial sources online: "Athens: This is not a protest. This as a pogrom," June 21, 2017, ERRC Newsletter; "Greek Riot Police Stop Angry Crowd From Attacking Roma Community," Philip Chrysopoulos, Jun 12, 2017, GreekReporter.com; "Education and Social Integration Program for Roma in Greece Suffers 80% Budget Cut," Kerry Kolasa-Sikiaridi, Jun 16, 2017, GreekReporter.com; "Chapter 4. Views of Roma, Muslims, Jews," May 12, 2014, Pew Research Center.
 
- J.B.Gerald, Gerald and Maas nightslantern.ca