AYS Daily Digest 16/8/19: Land in sight but still no allowance to dock
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Border Violence, Digest, Open Arms, Europe, Refugees

SYRIA

Due to bombings by the Syrian Regime and Russian forces, 124,000 civilians have been displaced from Idlib area towards the Syrian-Turkish border during the holiday of Eid al-Adha. For more information see:

TURKEY

The situation for Syrians in Turkey remains tense. People are, reportedly, afraid to leave their houses as the risk of being arrested for not having temporary protection ID or being registered in different provinces is extremely high.

GREECE

Arrivals

As for Friday morning, twelve boats arrived to the Greek islands, carrying a total of 388 people. Five of them arrived to Samos, four to Lesvos, another two on Chios and one on Pserimos.

Arrivals increased

Infomigrant reports that the number of people coming to Greece has increased by 25% in some parts of the country.

Overcrowded Reception Centres

All of the housing facilities on the islands are highly overcrowded. In Samos Reception and Identification Centre has a capacity of 648. Currently, 3949 people are there. Numbers for other Centres are similarly inacceptable: Leros: 1253 (Occupancy)/ 860 (Capacity); Kos: 1971/816; Lesvos: 7933/3000; Chios: 2330/1014. In total that makes up to 17436 people being accommodated in R.I.C. with a capacity of 6338. Numbers from Geek Ministry for citizen protection, can be found here:

Volunteers needed

Volunteers are needed to support the work of Elliniko Warehouse in Athens from Tuesday to Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. One can work with them on a regular base, but they also accept sporadic or once off volunteers.

Also, IHA is in urgent need of volunteers for its community centre and warehouse outside of Thessaloniki.

Contact:

MALTA

Sole Survivor

In our Daily Digest on the 13th of August, we reported about the dingy that was found off the coast of Malta carrying one dead body and one man alive. As reported by Times of Malta, it turned out that there were originally 15 people on the boat when it started from Libya. The sole survivor, Mohammed Adam Oga, had to watch 14 people die, one of them being a pregnant women, due to lack of water and exhaustion during the 11 days he spent on the sea. “After five days two people died. Then every day two people died.” An article about him can be found here:

A video showing his rescue here:

(Disclaimer: The video shows Mohammed Adam Oga being collapsed over the dead body of his friend.)

Mohammed Adam Oga claims that during the 11 days, various ships and helicopters passed nearby but nobody came to their rescue.

Maltas Archbishop Charles Scicluna called for a moment of prayer for “our brothers and sisters who are in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, waiting for Europe to open the gates of mercy”.

BALKAN ROUTE

Racist lapses from politicians in Croatia and Serbia

Racist language is on the rise in both Serbia and Croatia. Croatian Diplomat in Berlin Elizabeta Mađarević is, via Facebook, spreading racist conspiracy theories about a so called “great replacement” of “white Europe” claiming refugees are coming to Europe for political reasons aiming at the total islamification of the continent. In Serbia, Petar Radojcic, retired lieutenant general and member of the Political Council and Democratic Party Main Committee gives similar worrying statements, saying migrants lead to a demographic destabilization of Serbia.

In this article, the author eloquently shows how the term “great replacement” was invented and coined by the French right-wing pseudointellectual Renaud Camus.

This video dismantles the arguments from Lauren Southern, an alt-right activist, about the “great replacement” in great detail.

informative video about the narratives of alt-right and the invention of the so called “great replacement”

The Border Violence Monitoring Network in collaboration with No Name Kitchen published a new report on the situation at the EU-borders in July 2019. Again, it reports of massive use of violence and pushbacks. Among other things, the report covers:

· BiH politicians’ rhetoric on Croatian push-backs · Whistle-blowers increasing pressure on Croatian authorities · Frontex presence in Hungarian push-backs to Serbia · The use of k9 units in the apprehension of transit groups in Slovenia · The spatial dispersion of push-backs in the Una-Sana Canton

It can be found here:

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Volunteer doctors in Bosnia and Herzegovina report people coming (back) to Tuzla with injuries consistent with beatings: