About 30 Bangladeshi migrant workers have been injured in a shooting on a strawberry farm in Greece for requesting salaries that had not been paid. The migrants were shot at by at least one farm supervisor, in a Peloponnesian village in southern Greece, reports BBC online.
Several of the workers have been taken to hospital but none are in a critical condition.
The owner of the farm in Nea Manolada and one foreman have been arrested. Nea Manolada, about 260km (160 miles) west of Athens, is an area where thousands of migrant workers are employed.
Around 200 workers had gathered to request their unpaid salaries be paid when at least one farm supervisor opened fire, reports the BBC’s Mark Lowen.
Police Captain Haralambos Sfetsos told the AP news agency that the workers had “moved threateningly” towards foremen when the shots were taken. In addition to the two men already arrested, warrants for two further arrests have been issued.
Nea Manolada has previously been in the spotlight over exploitation of migrants.
In 2008 workers staged a strike against inhumane conditions. There have also been reports of previous attacks.
A social media campaign has now been launched to boycott the fruit from Nea Manolada, calling them “blood strawberries”.
The Council of Europe – the main European human rights watchdog – issued a report this week detailing abuse against migrants in Greece.
The report warned of a growing wave of racist violence, stating that
“democracy is at risk.” It highlighted the role of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn
party. UNB
