Τhe idea to host refugees and migrants in monasteries was good and kind but its implementation difficult. The Monastery in Divri, Peloponnese, could not offer the basics to the 105 refugees and migrants resettled there: neither electricity nor heating. At the same time, a violent incident against a refugees’ translator forced authorities to change of plans.
Police arrested a 47-year-old local man for having hit one translator and also threatened one stricture official. The man reportedly visited the structure on Thursday night. Holding a wooden stick he caused injuries to one translator and also threatened an IOM official. According to police, the man was taken to the public prosecutor who raised charges for bodily harm and threat.
The refugees and migrants who arrived in the Monastery on Thursday are supposed to be transferred to other hosting structure in northern Greece on Friday afternoon.
As the current situation is not suitable to host people, the International Migration Organization decided to change its plans.
According to Ancient Olympia Deputy Mayor Vassilis Arvanitis, the hospitality structure at the Monastery will suspend its operation. Once the structure is ready, it will accommodate singe-parent families from Syria as originally planned.
Also the refugees’ re-settlement to the Monastery of Poretsou had no sucessful end even if for different seasons.
The single-parent families came, saw and left. “Better in Moria,” they reportedly said after taking a short look into the isolation and “exile” of the area, and felt the cold temperatures.
Some complained about the very small space available.
They were 50-60 people, mothers with small or teenager children from Somalia, Sudan, Congo, Iraq and a few from Syria.
They returned to the buses and left for “unknown direction,” local media reported. Only five women with four children from Syria and Iraq were convinced to take advantage of the opportunity and stay in the Monastery.
the local residents, who had gathered outside the Monastery in order to protest the resettlement, did not have time to express their opposition.
It was the Metropolis of Ilia that decided to open the gates of the monasteries to vulnerable refugees. The clergy messages appealing at the values of Christianity did not help much either.
Translator or interpreter?