Pedestrians cross a crosswalk over the Acharnon Avenue in Athens, Greece. On 21 April, 2016, Greek activists occupied Hotel City Plaza on Acharnon, which had been closed for seven years. Since then this former three-star hotel has become a shelter for 400 refugees: 112 women, 92 men and 185 children. 28.06.16
Young refugees run around and soak themselves in a thunderstorm just outside Hotel City Plaza, Athens, Greece. 28.06.16.
Room 317: Serger Adul, 27, center, cuts his friend Enes Habesis' hair. They are refugees from Syrian Kurdistan. 02.07.16.
Room 223: (From left) Aziz, Ezat, Mohammed and Reza are unaccompanied Afghan minors from Iran. Facing religious and political persecution in Iran, their parents sent them away for a better life. The four travelled together and made it to Mytilene, Greece, 4 months ago. Eventually they all made the crossing to continental Europe. 30.06.16.
Refugee children play at what used to be the lobby of Hotel City Plaza. 28.06.16.
Room 424: (From left in the front row) Abul Fazl, Amir Ali and Ali Hosseni at Anti-Racist Festival, Athens, Greece. Ali, 28, left Iran when his wife Fateme, 26, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Iranian doctors said nothing could be done because they are Afghans. Fateme is now at a hospital in Athens, but not getting proper care. Abul Fazl, 8, shows unruly behavior and even Amir Ali, just 2 years old, is restless, caught up in the crisis and neglected by their mother's absence. 01.07.16.
Room 424: Ali Hosseni, 28, shows doctors' papers on his wife Fateme's breast cancer diagnosis. He carried the papers and pertinent documents all the way from Iran. Fateme is at a hospital in Athens and in a critical condition. "She's just sleeping. Very thin already." 02.07.16.
Refugee children sleep soundly inside their room at City Plaza Squat in Athens.
Room 219: Fatima Dungari, 60, is a Kurdish refugee. She is suffering from a liver problem and diabetes, and receives four injections a day. She has lost vision in her left eye.
Room 629: Halim, a 5-year-old refugee from Syria, writes his name on a notebook. His left arm was amputated after it was caught in fire from a bombing. 02.07.16.
Cristian Herrera, the kitchen coordinator and a professional chef, cooks for refugees from Hotel City Plaza at the Anti-Racist Festival, Athens, Greece. 01.07.16.
A child refugee points out at the pouring rain at Hotel City Plaza, Athens, Greece. The steel gate is kept closed at night for security reasons. The ongoing economic and refugee crises in Greece led to a rise in the xenophobic far-right groups such as the Golden Dawn political party. 28.06.16
Jamila, left, and Hamid Ali Yasere talk to their son Hasan via video chat. Hasan, who had made it to Germany, blows kisses to his son. 06.07.16.
Exit sign at the entrance to the kitchen, City Plaza Squat, Athens, Greece, 05.07.16.
Room 503: Maryam, 8, and Firouze Rezai, 40, at the Anti-Racist Festival, Athens, Greece. They are Afghan refugees stranded in Greece. 01.07.16.
Room 409: Jamal Ahmad is a 24 year-old refugee from Afghanistan. His son Hasanat was born in Alexandra Hospital in Athens 30 days ago.
Room 221: Dalia Wusta Hussein, a 6-year-old Kurdish refugee from Iraq, lies on the pillows in her room at Hotel City Plaza.
Refugee Hotel in Athens, Greece
On 21 April, 2016, Greek activists occupied Hotel City Plaza in Athens, which had been empty since 2010. The former three-star hotel with 92 rooms was then turned into a shelter for about 400 refugees. It is estimated that more than 57,000 refugees are stranded in Greece after Greece and Turkey struck a deal to close the borders in March 2016, and most of them live in sub-human conditions at camps or even on streets.
The hotel is run by volunteers and on individual donations, and the activists want to make a point about the living conditions of stranded refugees. A squat by definition is illegal and temporary. The better living conditions, safety and privacy, however, made the resident refugees feel human again, however temporarily.
I was intrigued by the hotel’s humanizing effect and its parallel dynamic to the temporary, uncertain status of the refugees. The setting of the hotel also raises important questions regarding the refugee crisis: What makes someone a tourist or a refugee, and how do different sets of privilege apply to each?
