Ukraine in Arabic | Syrian refugees protest in Greece
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ About 150 Syrian civil war refugees have begun a hunger strike in front of Greece's Parliament, urging the government to grant them temporary working and residence rights.
The hunger strike started Monday, after protesters began gathering last week at Athens' main Syntagma Square, complaining that refugees are being forced to pay exorbitant black-market rates to live in squalid apartments in Athens.
"People are living in bad conditions. We get (temporary) travel documents, but we can't go anywhere. We can't work, or go to hospital, or rent a place to live," said Khaldoon Fadel, one of the protesters.
A number of the hunger strikers sat on the sidewalk and covered their mouths with tape.
Greece is an entry point for refugees seeking to travel to the European Union. The debt-ridden country has witnessed a surge in the number of Syrians crossing by boat from nearby Turkey.
Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since 2011. Millions of Syrians have fled their homes as a result of the conflict.
Syria’s neighbors, including Lebanon and Jordan, have warned that they have reached their threshold for accommodating the displaced Syrians.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein has said more than 200,000 people have died in the Syrian conflict since March 2011.