After the Lampedusa tragedy on 3 October in 2013, in which 300 refugees died traveling from Africa to the Lampedusa isle, about 20 OPlatz protesters peacefully occupied the foyer of the EU-commission in Berlin on 10 October. The protesters, some of which had come to the EU through Lampedusa, brought candles to commemorate the dead and requested to speak with a government representative. The police allowed the protest to peacefully continue into the afternoon, after which the protesters moved onwards to an evening demonstration at the German chancellery. Also, on 9 October, 23 protesters went into hunger strike in front of the Brandenburger Tor again. They preferred to define themselves with the English term "non-citizens" and continued their strike until 19 October, after which they ensured that they would continue their strike in January 2014, had the political agenda regarding refugees not changed by then. During the 10-day hunger and thirst strike about 40 people were hospitalized, many of whom directly rejoined the strike after treatment.