European bordezones update

Important:

#‎WeatherAegean: United Rescue issues an IMPORTANT warning for the Aegean Sea: A huge storm is expected Saturday the 16th of January and Sunday the 17th of January which will be a thunderstorm on some of the islands accompanied by high waves. Also, snow is expected to fall on some of the islands in the Aegean Sea with a significant drop in temperatures. Dear refugee friends, please cancel all crossings.

تحذير هام :
عاصفة قوية محملة بالأمطار و الثلوج ستضرب المناطق و الجزر المطلة على بحر إيجه . مما سيسبب ارتفاع عالي بمستوى أمواج البحر و ذلك في تاريخ السادس عشر و السابع عشر من شهر كانون الثاني و الذي يصادف أيام السبت و الأحد الرجاء من الاخوة المهاجرين اخذ الحيطة و الحذر و عدم تعريض انفسهم و اطفالهم لخطر الغرق و الموت
أخي المهاجر سلامتك و سلامة اطفالك أولا

A larger update on the EU borderzones by the activists from Are You Syrious?

17.1.2016 Balkan route and some Northern EU countries

AYS DAILY NEWS DIGEST 16/1/2016 /// STOP THE SIEGE IN DEIR EZZOR /// HUGE STORM EXPECTED IN THE AEGEAN SEA CONTINUES ON SUNDAY /// THREE ARRESTED VOLUNTEERS IN GREECE RELEASED /// TURKISH COASTGUARD CUTS FUEL PIPES ON REFUGEE BOAT LEAVING IN STRANDED IN AEGEAN /// FIVE DEAD BODIES; LIKELY REFUGEES; FOUND NEAR SAMOS /// SNOWSTORMS EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 72 HOURS IN SERBIA, REFUGEES ARE ADVISED NOT TO TRAVEL BY FOOT DURING THAT TIME /// QUESTIONABLE DETENTION METHODS FOR MIGRANTS AND INADEQUATE CONDITIONS IN THE DETENTION CENTRE IN SLOVENIA /// ALL OCCUPIED DWELLING CLEARED FROM THE JUNGE AREA INTENDED FOR BULLDOZING /// THE FIRST GROUP OF ASSYLUM SEEKERS TO BE RELOCATED TO THE NETHERLANDS ON FRIDAY ///

Solidaritat öffnet die Grenzen‏ – Call for support für Idomeni!

Unterstützungs-Aufruf / Call for support:

„NoBorder-Train-Kitchen Idomeni” 3. Dezember 2015

Infotelephon: 0030 – 69466-50046

Struggle at Idomeni from rabble.org.uk

Liebe Freund_innen und Genoss_innen,

es ist mittlerweile gut 4 Wochen her, seit wir uns an Euch mit der Bitte um Eure Unterstützung gewendet hatten. Ursprünglich um nach Slovenien zu fahren – um dort gespendetes Material (Zelte,Decken,Schlafsäcke etc ) an geflüchtete Menschen zu verteilen und eine mobile VolXküche zu errichten.

Die Reaktion auf unseren Aufruf war überwältigend. Schon nach kurzer Zeit hatten wir soviel Material gespendet bekommen das die Sammelstellen
überquollen.

Eviction attempts at the Idomeni have begun!

Protest at Idomeni, people are shouting “Open the Border”

After more than 3 weeks of refusing to move from the Idomeni border (Greek-Macedonian), the police force has started to forcibly evict the protesters forcibly sending them to Greek cities such as Athens and Thessaloniki (source: http://livetickereidomeni.bordermonitoring.eu/2015/12/09/9-12-2015/). As a reminder, these are mostly the people who do not come from Syria, Irak and Afganistan and three weeks ago the EU with the cooperation with its potential member states closed its borders under the pretense of everybody else being an ‘economic migrant’.

The sealing off of the ‘Balkan borders’

Photo: Gavgelija, Robert Atanasovski, AFP

The EU has finally struck a deal with the Turkish government at 29.10.2015 in which 3 bilion Euros per yer, visa liberalizations and unfrozen EU membership negotiations, negotiations that the EU froze with Turkey in 2005 under pretense of  R. Erdoğans government style as authoritative, will be exchanged for the Turkish role as an external Schengen border ‘guardian’. With this EU again proved that its interests have to be protected at all costs, quickly ignoring previous comments regarding the current Turkish president R. Erdoğan, as well as his increased surpression of Kurdish people, media critics and activists in the recent years. Political Machiavellism labels and continue to label Western politics throughout the history and it doesn’t leave out other political actors around the globe.

The EU is closing its borders, letting through only certain nationalities!

News from Anti-Racist Front Without Borders, gathered by the activists from the borderzones:

Idomeni, Greece (Greek-Macedonian border):

Today, as yesterday, only Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis are allowed to pass, everyone else is halted.

Despair has started to spread among the people gathered there. Some have been in Eidomeni for four days. The food is not enough and the weather is getting really cold… This morning at least 6 people were transferred for medical care (on stretchers).

Currently there are around 1,500 people who are not allowed to pass. They remain in the camp, hanging around the borders area and in the village of ‪#‎Eidomeni‬ (local residents already started getting nervous). A large number of the people not allowed to pass remain near the borderline, mainly Iranians and Moroccans, shouting slogans and holding placards.

Rep. of ‪#‎Macedonia‬ intensified border surveillance, with more army and water cannons. At some point this morning there was some tension and immediately 2 more trucks with soldiers arrived – the once already there wore their bullet proof vest to intimidate the migrants. In any case, they seem ready to handle any tension, which in fact sooner or later will come.

About the future:

After todays visit of the Greek minister for migration, the following information was leaked:

– E.U. will harden its’ attitude further. The borders are closed definitively for all nationalities besides the 3 mentioned above (Iraqis, Afghans and Syrians).

– Those without passes will be transferred to ‪#‎Athens‬, as Thessaloniki and other northern Greece cities are not suitable (they are too close to the border and this would leave migrants with a hope that they will finally pass).

– Three camps are prepared in Athens: a football stadium in the neighborhood of Galatsi, the Olympic Games Tae Kwon Do stadium and warehouses at the former airport of Hellinikon. Those wishing to return to Athens will be transported by bus.

– Most important, at some (unspecified) time the borders will close completely for 7 days to stop immigrants flows altogether. At some point, the borders will close permanently for Afghan nationals too – it is not clear if it will happen before or after the 7-day temporary closing of the border.

– The border will remain open for the two nationalities (Syrians and Iraqis) for some time after the seven-day temporary shutdown, but in the end the border will close for them too.