(21 October 2016) – The City Plaza Hotel, in the centre of Athens, which was abandoned for a number of years, has become a temporary residence for over 400 migrants.
The hotel is self-managed and provides a place where refugees can find shelter, food and medical care.
The City Plaza project is part of the multitude of citizen-led initiatives that have emerged in Greece since 2015, to protest against the detention of migrants or their isolation in camps, and to demand that refugees receive adequate housing in cities, with access to healthcare, education and social services.
The City Plaza Hotel is more than just a humanitarian action: it offers accommodation, but more than anything it aims to “lead by example”, opening a collective place of life, which is self-organised and transparent.