Refugees start hunger strike on Chios island in protest of living

Approximately 100 refugees and migrants out of a total 700 people accommodated in Souda camp on Chios island in Greece for months started on Monday a hunger strike in protest of dramatic living conditions, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.

"We are humans, not animals," read posters raised by protesters inside the camp which has been sealed off by police forces.

Over the past ten days, the hospitality center set up by the municipality and run by UNHCR has been left with no electricity. Water supply was also cut off six days ago.

Municipality officials told AMNA that the electric power and water supply systems collapsed when UNHCR officials decided to replace the cooking gas devices used to keep families warm inside the tents with electrical stoves for safety reasons.

The decision was made after the death of a refugee child and his grandmother in Moria camp on Lesvos island in November due to fire caused by the gas canister.

Due to technical problems and a disagreement between local authorities and UNHCR on who should bear the 10,000 euros (10,420 U.S. dollars) per month electricity supply cost, according to the municipality representatives, refugees have remained with no running water and electric power as temperatures have dropped to two degrees Celsius.

"We need electricity, Aleppo has it!" a banner posted by protesters at the camp's entrance read on Monday.

Refugees have been also protesting about the quality of the food distributed by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), according to AMNA. Two days ago, 50 people got sick with gastroenteritis after the meal,they said.

Tension has also been fuelled by information that a group of migrants will be returned to Turkey in coming days.

About 20 migrants who were informed on Monday that their asylum applications had been turned down started breaking and burning objects on hand at the nearby Pyli hotspot, and police intervened to restore order.

Under the EU-Turkey agreement launched in March to stem the influx into Europe, all people who are entering Greece illegally on boats from Turkish shores will be sent back, should their asylum requests are turned down.

Due to the slow pace at which asylum applications are being processed, approximately 16,500 people are stranded in overcrowded facilities on the Greek Aegean Sea islands, out of a total of 62,500 trapped throughout Greece since February after the closure of the country's northern borders, according to the latest statistics released by the Greek government on Sunday.

Despite efforts made to improve living conditions, tensions have escalated in recent months. Refugees and migrants have often staged protests which turned violent.

source: Xinhua