Syrian refugees living in Greece staged a hunger strike last week in front of the parliament building in Athen's Syntagma Square. Refugees held banners in Arabic, English, and Greek demanding protection from exploitative landlords, better documentation, and freedom to enter other EU nations. Protesters have been occupying the square since November 19th and began a hunger strike on the 21st in solidarity with immigrants in the Amygdaleza detention center ten kilometers outside of Athens.
EU law requires that refugees request asylum in the first country they enter. This restriction has prevented Syrians from leaving Greece, a country that has been unable to handle a recent influx of refugees. The only way that refugees can leave Greece under the current European immigration policy is on a tourist visa. In addition, Syrians can only stay in the country for up to three months every six months, all of which makes earning full legal status incredibly difficult.
To make matters worse, Lebanon and Jordan, Syria's neighbors, have said that they are unable to accommodate any more Syrians, which will continue to increase the strain on Greek the immigration and social services departments.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein, over 200,000 have died since March, 2011 in the Syrian conflict.
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