URGENT: The government threatens the hunger strikers

URGENT: The government threatens the hunger strikers that they will be evicted if they don't all agree to be transferred to hospitals.

About an hour ago (shortly before 2pm on Monday, March 7), on the 42nd day of the hunger strike of the 300 migrant workers, the Ministry of Health sent a representative to the hunger strikers staying in the front yard and corridors of the Ypatia mansion in Athens.

In its message to the strikers, the Ministry of Health states that “their limits of patience and understanding have been exhausted” and that they ask “with no further delay, that all hunger strikers be transferred to NHS hospitals in Athens (…) so that danger to their health and to their life is avoided.” The text ends in a warning: “We ask the migrants who are staying at Ypatia to cooperate with the ambulance staff so that they are transferred without further delay. We ask the people who accompany them and support their struggle, to not only refrain for obstructing the procedure, but to make every possible effort to persuade all migrants to be transferred to public hospitals.”

In other words, under the pretext that they are interested in the hunger strikers’ health condition, the government is prepared to send the police to force the migrant hunger strikers out of the building. This is the first step towards forceful feeding by the hospital staff, i.e. towards breaking the hunger strike with an order by a public prosecutor.

The hunger strikers have already decided that they are not leaving the building without a residency permit.