ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th June, 2023) A thousand people have taken to the streets of Athens in protests against the death of migrants in a shipwreck off the Peloponnese and the migration policy of the European Union, Greek media reported late on Thursday.
The protest at Syntagma Square in Athens has been held under the slogan "They turned the Mediterranean Sea into a sea of the dead for the profit of the capitalists" and has ended with a march of unions, organizations and the youth to the building of the EU mission, the ERT broadcaster reported. The participants were chanting slogans like "We will never get used to massacres," "the crime continues, thousands have died, the system that kills is inhumane," and "migrants have drowned, refugees have died - this is the EU policy," the report said.
The Communist Party of Greece, headed by Dimitris Koutsoumpas, has taken part in protests, the media reported. The crowd applauded a delegation from Amazon Labor Union from the United States, which was in Athens and participated in the protests. Participants in the protests have launched dozens of paper lanterns into the sky.
The Proto Thema newspaper reported that 26 people had been detained during another protest at about the same time at Panepistimiou Street in Athens. The protest has been organized by a group of local anarchists, who have thrown Molotov cocktails and rocks at police, forcing law enforcement to use tear gas and stun grenades against protesters.
On Wednesday night, the fishing boat carrying migrants capsized in international waters 47 nautical miles southwest of the Greek town of Pylos. The boat was heading from the Tobruk area in eastern Libya to Italy. A large-scale search and rescue operation was launched under the coordination of the Joint Rescue Coordination Center.
Greek media reported later in the day that at least 78 people had died in the migrant shipwreck, with over 100 rescued.
The International Organization for Migration said the boat was carrying at least 400 migrants, while the survivors estimated that 700 migrants had been on board.
