Violence

2018 has brought some alarming new developments to the situation for refugees and displaced people on Chios. After the failure of a recent injunction meant to halt Vial’s expansion, a group of frustrated locals set up camp on the road leading into Vial, forcing refugees to walk through crowds of hostile people in order to access the camp. The locals’ everyday presence is objectively intimidating; at times it has crossed the line into outright bigotry and violence. We’ve witnessed xenophobic language first-hand, and one woman at our Athena Centre for Women reported being kicked by a local woman in the crowd – a completely unacceptable act of hate.