Category Archives: Greece

Neo-Nazi leaders of Greece’s Golden Dawn sentenced to 13 years

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Leaders of violent far-right group, including former MPs, shown little leniency by judges

The neo-Nazi leaders of Golden Dawn have each been sentenced to 13 years in prison by a court in Athens, at the end of a historic hearing.

The neo-fascist group was officially laid to rest as its disgraced former MPs were shown little mercy by a three-member panel of judges. Last week the court ruled that Golden Dawn lawmakers had operated a criminal organisation under the guise of being a democratically elected party.

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Peace hopes at stake as northern Cyprus voters go to the polls

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Unofficial early results show first round voting has narrowed field to leftist incumbent and rightwing nationalist

Voters in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus are to face a stark choice between candidates in a run-off presidential election deemed crucial for the resumption of peace talks that could end 46 years of ethnic division on the Mediterranean island.

Following a campaign fraught with allegations of overt meddling from Ankara, the 200,000-strong electorate cast votes yesterday in a first-round contest that narrowed the field to a pro-reunification moderate and a Turkey-backed nationalist who wants two clear states on the island.

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Golden Dawn: clashes follow landmark court ruling in Athens – video report

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Clashes between police and demonstrators continued on the streets of Athens on Tuesday after a Greek court ruled that the far-right Golden Dawn party was operating as a criminal organisation, delivering a landmark guilty verdict in a marathon five-year trial. Police had earlier used water cannon and teargas to disperse an anti-fascist rally attended by more than 15,000 people outside court

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EU condemns northern Cyprus plan to reopen beach in no man’s land

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Turkish Cypriot leader’s plan is described as ‘serious violation’ of UN ceasefire agreement

The EU’s diplomatic chief has condemned plans by breakaway northern Cyprus to reopen the beach of an abandoned resort in no-man’s land as a “serious violation” of a UN ceasefire agreement on the divided island.

The Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, backed by Ankara, has vowed to open a coastal section of disputed Varosha, prompting anger from the island’s internationally recognised government.

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Greek court’s ruling on Golden Dawn party met with jubilation – video

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A crowd of thousands cheered the announcement of a Greek court's ruling on Wednesday that the far-right Golden Dawn party was operating as a criminal organisation. The verdict follows a five-year trial and was met with jubilation by people who had gathered around the heavily guarded court complex in Athens, chanting 'Nazis belong to prison'.

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Golden Dawn guilty verdicts celebrated across Greece

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Ex-leader and MPs found guilty after biggest trial of fascists since Nuremberg

A court verdict in Athens with ramifications for the far right across Europe has been met with jubilation in Greece and internationally after judges ruled the neo-fascist Golden Dawn was a criminal organisation in disguise.

Tens of thousands people who had converged near the heavily guarded court complex in Athens in anticipation of the judgment roared in excitement as the news emerged. Many broke into spontaneous applause and punched the air as it became clear that the three-member tribunal had found the far-right group guilty of operating a gang of hit squads bent on eliminating perceived enemies.

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‘Moria 2.0’: refugees who escaped fire now living in ‘worse’ conditions

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More than 7,500 people living in tents on squalid settlement, with two other camps on Lesbos set to close

Thousands of people who fled the fire that destroyed the infamous Moria refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece, last month are living in dire and unsanitary conditions in a temporary settlement with little access to water or basic sanitation.

Just over 7,500 people are now living in tents among the rubble and dust of a former shooting range in an informal settlement that has become known as “Moria 2.0”.

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‘Catastrophe for human rights’ as Greece steps up refugee ‘pushbacks’

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Human rights groups condemn practice as evidence reviewed by the Guardian reveals systemic denial of entry to asylum seekers

At about 1am on 24 August, Ahmed (not his real name) climbed into a rubber dinghy with 29 others and left Turkey’s north-western Çanakkale province. After 30 minutes, he said, they reached Greek waters near Lesbos and a panther boat from the Hellenic coastguard approached.

Eight officers in blue shorts and shirts, some wearing black masks and armed with rifles, forced the group – more than half women and including several minors and six small children – to come aboard at gunpoint. They punctured the dinghy with knives and it sank. “They said they would take us to a camp,” said Ahmed. “The children were happy and started laughing, but I knew they were lying.”

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As Covid cases rise again, how are countries in Europe reacting?

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Tighter measures are being imposed, but they vary across the continent

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Hurricane Ianos turns towards Crete after sweeping across Greece

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Two dead, one missing and nearly a thousand rescued as floods damage Thessaly

After pounding parts of western and central Greece meteorologists have predicted a rare Mediterranean hurricane is headed south towards the island of Crete.

Authorities struggling to contain the impact of the cyclone – a so-called medicane, named Ianos – said two people had died and at least one was missing as torrential rain and gale-force winds wielded a trail of destruction.

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Syrian teenage refugee homeless on Lesbos – despite having right to live in UK

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Labour urges Home Office to ‘right this wrong’ as Syrian teenager remains stranded in Greece despite legal right to join family

“When I saw the smoke coming I didn’t have the chance to get my backpack, I just ran. The fire was very close, I couldn’t save anything, I lost all my documents. I just escaped through the forest.”

Ahmed looks nervously around as he talks about the catastrophe he has just lived through: the fire that destroyed the Moria refugee camp in Lesbos. Around him people are going about their daily lives in the island capital Mytilene, drinking coffee and chatting in the sunshine. But today the Syrian teenager is focused on the basics of survival. “Do you know where I can buy clothes?” he asks. It has been a week since the fire and he only has what he is wearing.

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Refugees demand rescue from Lesbos after Moria camp blaze

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Greek authorities struggle to persuade former camp residents to move to a new temporary site as protests continue

Greece is facing mounting demands from refugees displaced by the devastating Moria refugee camp fire to either let them leave Lesbos or deport them.

The Greek authorities are struggling to persuade former residents of the camp to move to a new temporary site, and many people continue to sleep on the streets of the island.

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UK urged to take in refugees after fire at Lesbos migrant camp

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Thousands have been left without shelter after blaze at Moria camp on Greek island

Pressure is mounting on the UK government to take in some of the thousands of asylum seekers left without shelter following a devastating fire at Europe’s largest migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.

The blaze tore through the Moria registration and identification centre (RIC) overnight on Tuesday, incinerating tents that had been home to 13,000 people, including at least 4,000 children.

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Local anger as Greece tries to shelter refugees after Lesbos fire

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Military seen using helicopters to carry equipment as they set up tented area on hilltop

Authorities have rushed to start putting up tents on Lesbos after thousands of men, women and children forced by devastating fires to evacuate Greece’s largest refugee camp spent a second night of sleeping rough.

Faced with intense opposition from local officials who were now demanding that the notoriously overcrowded Moria facility be removed “once and for all” from the island, the Greek government scrambled to break the deadlock.

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Lesbos refugees protest after devastating camp fire – video report

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Thousands of refugees on Lesbos protested in the street on Friday outside what was the largest migrant camp in Europe, which burned to the ground on Tuesday night.

Greek officials have pledged new temporary tents for the close to 13,000 refugees who were staying in Moria, as 11 European countries agreed to take 400 unaccompanied minors from among those left homeless by the fire

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‘Moria no more’: the refugees left to sleep in car parks after escaping blaze

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Peaceful protests break out as the fire that destroyed Europe’s largest refugee camp leaves thousands without provisions, shelter or medical help

After days of sleeping on the streets since fleeing a fire which, for many, claimed all of their worldly belongings, Moria camp residents protested in their thousands on Friday. Babies sat on the shoulders of their fathers and small children carried signs bearing the word “freedom,” written on scraps of cardboard.

People clapped, whistled and banged empty water bottles together during a peaceful but noisy protest as frustrations ran high. Camp residents have been stuck on the streets between Moria camp and the main town of Mytilene, blocked in on all sides by police buses. Riot police in helmets and holding shields looked on as the protest passed them.

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‘It’s unbearable’: Lesbos refugees sleep on streets after devastating fire

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Residents of Moria camp struggle to salvage what they can as protesters try to block efforts to rebuild

Plumes of smoke rise above the ashes and twisted metal. In many parts this is all that remains of Europe’s largest refugee camp.

Just a few days ago, the Moria camp in Lesbos was home to thousands of children and their families. Now all that is left are the smoldering ruins and jagged outlines of scorched tents.

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How a rush for Mediterranean gas threatens to push Greece and Turkey into war

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Deepening dispute between Nato allies has dragged in neighbours and is in danger of spiralling out of control

An increasingly fractious standoff over access to gas reserves has transformed a dispute between Turkey and Greece that was once primarily over Cyprus into one that now ensnares Libya, Israel, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and feeds into other political issues in the Mediterranean and has raised fears of a naval conflict between the two Nato allies in the Aegean Sea.

The crisis has been deepening in recent months with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, leading those inside the EU opposing Turkey’s increasingly military foreign policy and saying Turkey can no longer be seen as partner in the Mediterranean. He has offered French military support to the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, including the possible sale of 18 Rafale jets.

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EU official says asylum policy impasse ‘part of the problem’ at Moria

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Ylva Johansson says EU working to reduce number of refugees and migrants on Greek islands

A senior EU official has said Europe’s failure to agree a common migration and asylum policy was partly responsible for the “unacceptable” conditions at the Moria camp on Lesbos that burned to the ground this week, leaving more than 12,000 people without shelter.

Ylva Johansson, the European commissioner for home affairs, said that when she took office in December 2019, the situation for 40,000 refugees and migrants living on Greek islands was “unsustainable and unacceptable”.

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Thousands need aid after fire destroys Europe’s largest refugee camp

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Greek minister calls situation on Lesbos an ‘unprecedented humanitarian crisis’

Thousands of people urgently require emergency shelter and aid after a fire destroyed Europe’s largest refugee camp, on the Greek island of Lesbos.

As the Athens government declared a state of emergency and a delegation of officials rushed to the north-eastern Aegean island, the sheer scale of devastation wrought by the overnight blaze became increasingly evident.

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