Greeks Demand Justice After Farm Bosses Open Fire On Migrant Workers During Pay Dispute
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The Greek government on Thursday promised “swift and exemplary” punishment for three strawberry plantation foremen from the village of Manolada, after the farm owners allegedly opened fire on some 200 Bangladeshi migrant workers, who had refused to go to work following six months of unpaid wages.
The Greek government on Thursday promised “swift and exemplary” punishment for three strawberry plantation foremen from the village of Manolada, after the farm owners allegedly opened fire on some 200 Bangladeshi migrant workers, who had refused to go to work following six months of unpaid wages.
According to the Associated Press, the incident arose after an altercation between the foremen and their workers at the plantation, whereafter the three suspects then briefly left the spot, before returning holding two shotguns and a handgun, and opened fire on the crowd.
Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou condemned the shooting as “inhuman, unprecedented and shameful,” vowing an immediate manhunt with the three gunmen now believed to be in hiding.
Authorities told AP that they had arrested the owner of the farm, which is about 260 kilometers (160 miles) southwest of Athens; while on Thursday, they also arrested a local man on suspicion of hiding the three fugitives.
“The barbarous attack … conjures up images of a slavery-based South that have no place in our country,” Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis said.
[quote]”This unprecedented and shameful act is foreign to Greek ethics,” he added.[/quote]About 28 workers were believed to have been wounded during the shooting. One of the immigrants involved in the protests told Greek Skai TV, as cited by Reuters, that they had been promised wages of 22 euros ($28.70) a day.
[quote]”They keep telling us that we will get paid in a month, and this has been going on for more than a year,” said the worker, who was not identified. “We don’t talk about it because we are afraid that we will be killed or kicked out,” he added.[/quote]The shooting has now prompted a national campaign to boycott “blood strawberries”. Online, graphic images of the wounded and terrified pickers prompted outrage; despite rising anti-foreigner sentiment in the country, which has seen one in four Greeks unemployed after five years of recession.
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Dimitris Christopoulos, an expert in immigration law and associate professor at Panteion University in Athens, told The Independent that the attack was probably caused by years of impunity for similar offences.
[quote]“Manolada has been synonymous with racist violence but there has been no punishment so they feel free to keep doing it,” he said.[/quote]In January, Amnesty International also warned of a “dramatic escalation of racially motivated attacks over the past year”, blaming the increasing radicalisation of right wing groups in the country.
The Greek section of the Doctors of the World medical aid group told AP that the shooting should be treated as a case of racist violence, which will imply more severe penalties.
[quote]“The protracted financial crisis, combined with a constantly growing mood of xenophobia and tolerance for racist violence, is leading to incidents of barbarity and brutality that … insult Greece,” a group statement said.[/quote]Related: Will Europe’s Unemployment Crisis Spark A Return For Fascism? : George Friedman
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Greece’s main labour union, GSEE, called on the government investigate conditions at Manolada, which it likened to a modern form of slavery.
“The criminal act in Manolada … shows the tragic results of labour exploitation, combined with a lack of control” by the government labour inspectorate, a GSEE statement said. “In Manolada, and particularly in the strawberry plantations, a sort of state within a state has been created.”
Watch: News footage of the shooting’s aftermath
