Athens refugee squats
"[1] Coalitions of solidarity groups and migrants have established squats throughout Athens (mostly in Exarcheia) to house refugees, demonstrating an alternative to solutions offered by the European Union and NGOs.
Widespread poverty and unemployment led to unstable political conditions, and high percentages of housing and storefronts sat unoccupied.
Representing an unprecedented influx, upwards of one million migrants entered Greece seeking asylum in the European Union between 2015 and 2016, peaking with the arrival of over 200,000 refugees in October 2015.
[4] Contributing factors include the escalation of the Syrian civil war and the subsequent closing of the Jordanian and Turkish borders with Syria.
[4] Balkan states were unable to control the migration via administrative mechanisms, opting to open a route deeper into Europe.
It is proposed that this approach ensures the safety of local populations and migrants, by creating safer travel paths into Europe while tightly controlling where they can go.
Police evictions of newly arrived migrants from public spaces around Victoria Square drew activists to provide resources and support refugee-led protests and hunger strikes.
Nearby Pedion tou Areos Park, occupied by newly arrived migrants, was similarly cleared by police.
Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis backed this decision, saying that the refugee crisis "does not legitimise anyone occupying arbitrarily public or private buildings to house those persons."
[15] One month previously, the freshly elected new Prime Minister (and uncle of Bakoyannis) Kyriakos Mitsotakis of the New Democracy party had promised to impose order on the district of Exarcheia.
[15] This central district houses at least 23 anarchist and migrant squats, and has long been the base for Greece’s radical left social movements.
[10] The self-organisation means that a Syrian former information technology worker set up the wifi network, an Arabic teacher from Syria gives weekly lessons and someone who studied hotel management in Damascus works in the kitchen.
[32] Activists and refugees coordinated to organize and maintain the Hotel as an alternative to state-run camps, focused on promoting the autonomy and political agency of the residents.
[35] Refugees and the associated solidarity groups closed the squat on July 10, 2019, two days after the electoral win of right-wing New Democracy.
[36][37][38] Housing Squat for Refugees and Immigrants Notara 26 (named for its address) was the first empty building to be opened as a migrant shelter in Exarcheia in September 2015.
