As the popular belief spreads that migrants are to blame for the fires that have ravaged Greece, self-organised civilian 'militias' are hunting them down.
“The Greek government and media have been nurturing vigilante-style ‘migrant hunters’ since 2020, allowing them to commit racist crimes with complete impunity,” says Alarm Phone, an NGO that helps refugees in need of rescue at sea.
In recent days, more and more videos encouraging the hunting of migrants have been published on social media, despite measures taken by the Greek judiciary to stop these actions.
Despite this, the Greek Supreme Court has ordered an investigation to find out more about the “alarming phenomena of violence” against migrants and whether there was an “organised plan” to provoke the fire, although authorities have suggested it was caused by lightning.
The latest controversy followed comments by Paraschos Christou Papadakis, a member of the Greek parliament for the ultra nationalist Solution party, who accused the migrants of “obstructing the work of the fire brigade” and starting wildfires.
“Although it was confirmed that the large wildfires raging in Evros have been started by a lightning strike, this has not stopped the racist and dangerous narratives being spread around the country,” Adriana Tidona, Amnesty International’s spokesperson, told Euronews.
In a post on his social media, the Greek Solution MP described the situation as a “war” and called on people to organise raids to "arrest illegal migrants in the same way as in March 2020″.
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“The Greek government and media have been nurturing vigilante-style ‘migrant hunters’ since 2020, allowing them to commit racist crimes with complete impunity,” says Alarm Phone, an NGO that helps refugees in need of rescue at sea.
In recent days, more and more videos encouraging the hunting of migrants have been published on social media, despite measures taken by the Greek judiciary to stop these actions.
Despite this, the Greek Supreme Court has ordered an investigation to find out more about the “alarming phenomena of violence” against migrants and whether there was an “organised plan” to provoke the fire, although authorities have suggested it was caused by lightning.
The latest controversy followed comments by Paraschos Christou Papadakis, a member of the Greek parliament for the ultra nationalist Solution party, who accused the migrants of “obstructing the work of the fire brigade” and starting wildfires.
“Although it was confirmed that the large wildfires raging in Evros have been started by a lightning strike, this has not stopped the racist and dangerous narratives being spread around the country,” Adriana Tidona, Amnesty International’s spokesperson, told Euronews.
In a post on his social media, the Greek Solution MP described the situation as a “war” and called on people to organise raids to "arrest illegal migrants in the same way as in March 2020″.
The original article contains 930 words, the summary contains 217 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!