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Anastasia Balezdrova

Manolis Kantaris’ murder in downtown Athens and the subsequent clashes between members of the far-right Golden Dawn and anarchists forced the Greek government to finally take action. The ministers decided to strengthen the police presence in the region, which for years has become a den of representatives of the entire range of criminal acts specified in the Criminal Code. A visitor to Athens could see in the daylight deals between drug addicts and drug dealers, prostitutes from Africa and Eastern Europe and their pimps, and if the visitor becomes preoccupied in watching someone’s skillful fingers will most likely steal his or her entire pocket or purse. The problem with the presence of thousands of illegal immigrants, for whom the authorities do not know who they are or where they come from, turned the region into a ghetto to such an extent that the old residents left their homes and moved into other neighbourhoods.

Some of the measures adopted by the Greek government are tax incentives and lower prices for the Greeks, who would decide to settle in central Athens. Is it enough, however, or the problems are more serious than they seem.

Kriton Piperas lives in downtown Athens since the 1980s. He is a guide, so his professional life is also associated with the same area. He told that the centre has started to change after the Olympic Games in 2004. "Until then and during the Games I saw an Athens for which I had dreamed and did not believe that it is possible to exist. The changes started when the centre began to fill with illegal immigrants. But this is just one of the major symptoms of the general decline of the area in recent years."

According to Kriton, tourists are not at all fascinated by the appearance of the area west of Omonia Square. "Their impressions are not the best. We try to cover as far as we can the chaos in Athens, but it is not just about how the city looks. The problems are many. If a person walks in downtown Athens for two hours he or she might not see those things. However, things are different when you are working with a group that is staying in town for a few days. You should warn the tourists to be careful, to avoid walking outside, to keep their bags, i.e. these people feel the decline of downtown. This bad impression, however, will be brought abroad and it is negative in general and we could also say that Athens has been "dead" in tourist terms in recent years."
 
His assessment of the conditions downtown Athens does not differ in anything from what every visitor sees. "We are talking about chaos. There are no checks, no police patrols, and when there are such they act for the suppression of a given case rather than to prevent it. Last week, I was with a group of tourists on their visit to the Archaeological Museum. Drug addicts were having injections on Tositsa Street at 10 am. At 9 pm, there were hundreds of young girls offering sexual services on the street behind Kodziya Square where the Town Hall is located. We all know about these things, but I do not see any efforts to be made to solve these problems somehow."
 
Kriton lives on Ipirou Street, a few metres away from where Manolis Kantaris was killed. It seems that the fear to move after sunset has become a common phenomenon. "Yes, I feel scared when I go home in the evening. But I think that fear is everywhere. The immigrants who live in the region also fear. Why have we ended up applying the law of the Lynch, enabling the people to attack everyone they meet in the name of a "racial purity" or who knows for what other reason. There are immigrants living in Greece for years, working somewhere or having their shops and they are also scared. It is quite logical. I myself am afraid not only of the criminals who probably are in the region, but also because of the dark colour of my skin. Do I have to move with my identity card in my mouth for fear that some would decide to break my head because they would think I am an immigrant? This is ridiculous. It is not possible to live in such an atmosphere."

According to Kriton, the measures announced by the Government for solving the problems in central Athens are superficial. In his opinion, crime is the result of the existence of other problems, and those measures hardly touch them.
 
"All those responsible should take their role seriously. It is not enough to express their hope for something or to announce publicly the existence of problems. They should engage with them and try to find solutions."

He does not believe that the problems could be resolved by "brooming" as the actions to detain a large number of illegal immigrants are called. The relocation of methadone centres elsewhere is not a solution either.

"Where there is a completely uncontrollable methadone centre in a region, you can not fix things. I think all these centres should be located in hospitals where people with drug problems could go and at least try to find a solution, not to go to such centres around which drug trade is flourishing.

I personally have no problem living next to such a proper centre. I'm not a supporter of the “away from me and anywhere” principle. The question is that these centres should work properly. In their present condition, they do not offer any solutions to the people who actually need them."

Reducing the actual prices of the houses and the tax incentives are not able to attract people to settle in central Athens. According to Kriton, people should first feel safe about the place they would settle.

"If problems persist I do not think anyone would decide to move to the centre just because house prices are cheap. It is impossible to live here with your family. Who would have moved with their children in an area where you do not know whether you will come home alive?"

While the government inaction has directed many of his neighbours to the far-right Golden Dawn, Kriton Piperas does not believe that illegal immigrants are to blame for the conditions in central Athens. "Regardless of how they arrived in Greece, these people are victims of exploitation. This is another factor that poses serious problems. Because when you need a person as cheap labour and use it all the way you should know that a financial problem lies behind all this, which at one point will jump to the fore. And from the point when all these people do not actually exist because they are not registered anywhere, they are susceptible to hunger, which is a very bad adviser."

Unlike the proponents of the idea that all illegal immigrants are almost criminals Kriton makes the necessary distinction between them.

"There are those who have chosen to live the life of criminals and do not intend to work and live normally. But we have ended up to see more than 20 people living in small two-bedroom apartments. The owners of these homes are also responsible for this. We ourselves are the ones who use them. Well, at one point, the people who are exploited in this way respond. And every person responds in a different way. This is also part of the problem. The easiest solution is to gather all illegal immigrants and to send them back. But they will be here the next day again, won’t they?"

He equally criticises the position of the Left, which declares its support to all immigrants, and deliberately avoids admitting that some of them are not supporters of the law.

"The Left defends all immigrants referring to their human rights but we also have such rights. I believe that its actions are intended merely to create impressions. Let their leaders come and try to live here. All things are easy when you look at them from a distance. None of us wants these people to be exploited, but on the other hand we can not close our eyes to the fact that some of them are criminals. Not all of the immigrants, but in the general chaos those who are will benefit from it."